148 A normal world?

On her way, she saw a few other undead attacks, but all they managed to earn from her was sheer disappointment. They rarely had more skulls than human heads, and even if they did, it was never overwhelming. For all she could see, besides pining down a huge amount of soldiers from Avenio, those skeletons had no other purposes. She had not seen anything worse than a limb being cut, but it was quickly healed.

Since that was the case, the vultures flying in the sky near her quickly departed, realizing that their meal wouldn't appear anytime soon. Maybe because of her or maybe because it was what they were doing usually, but she saw quite a few groups of those birds hiding in the clouds and tailing the travelers that left the different fortresses. Following them, she could witness the few unlucky ones that suffered a terrible fate, as they were too far from any potential helpers.

In the instance where those dark creatures could not get a human as a snack, they turned their sights toward the few animals that were nearby. But after the numerous years where they had done that, the vast plains were quite empty. Making her wonder how it was possible for those monsters to survive for so long without eating. After all, if they were all assembled near the frontier between the two kingdoms, it was because of something. But that was just mere thoughts from her since she couldn't know if more of those vultures were flying deeper inside Pankow.

The days passed with only a few events. Some weak undead attacks, some unfortunate humans that got too close to Pankow and suffered the wrath and hunger of the vultures. Even sometimes a group of humans trying to enter the undead kingdom, only to retreat a few hours later. Remembering the small army she first encountered on this planet, those expeditions were similar. That little princess of Massalia was probably sent to experience the environment of Pankow, as a trial of some sorts. Never expected to meet her in the process.

Strangely enough, she could see from where she was that the previously hidden undead all became to appear as soon as those humans entered Pankow. However, they were always out of sight of the men from Avenio, making it seem to be an empty place. Unlike the weak skeletons she saw, those undead were zombies, resurrected bodies from under the ground. In which they returned as soon as no one living was in the vicinity.

Seeing clearly what was the situation, she couldn't help but feel that something was even weirder than the fact the Saksa had not reacted to the spell of Candaith and her answer. For the humans, to only contain the undead seemed logical. But at the same times, they probably ordered thousands and thousands of small skirmishes, without any result. And form the memories she had, at neither Massalia nor Avenio had launched any massive war in the last decades.

As for the undead, besides throwing some reminders in the form of skeletons, they did not pose any threat. Maybe it was because all the soldiers she killed near Archet were not from that region, and therefore, they did not have any knowledge of what was happening. But she couldn't find a truly damaging attack. Sometimes, massive armies did appear and besieged a few fortresses. But it was never impossible to defend and those undead knights did not seem to be widely recognized.

The more she stayed in this world, the more she wondered if all of this was not just a massive experiment of the Ancients. Even if it seemed impossible since they were supposed to be all dead. Also, that part was never truly understood by the Demonic Empire, after all, how could a race controlling millions of planets could disappear like that? A Saksa not attacking gods that did careless actions, something attracting both portals that Candaith created back on Arsene and Artosis. With all she had seen in her life, this wouldn't be the most unbelievable thing.

Of course, if she was right, that would mean her life did not depend on herself anymore, something no one liked to hear. Dispelling those thoughts, she left the group of oblivious humans that were surrounded by hidden undead. Even after so many days, she did not seem to be out of Avenio yet. She even thought she had arrived once, only to realize it was just a small mountain all alone. Seeing the presence of a human city near it, she kept following the river.

"And another one." Staring at the hill that was beginning to turn from dirt to rock, she lifted her head to see the hidden peak amongst the clouds. "At least, this one is bigger." Expecting humans near it, she was surprised when she recognized the small height of the creatures that were actively training. Even if they were taller than her, it was not by a much.

A few rows of dwarves, bearded and without a beard, were running on a track delimited by some rocks. Even now, they were still wearing very heavy armors, that was barely shaking after each of their steps. If it wasn't for the fact they were not shouting and carrying weapons, it could have been mistaken as them charging an enemy. Near them, other dwarves were exercising, executing movements she had seen some inferior races do to improve their bodies.

A few meters away, an opening in the flank of the mountain could be spotted, where a flow of armored fighters was passing. Approaching it a bit, she could see that four additional holes were present above that opening, at different places. Landing near them, since it was way above what those dwarves could see, she saw that while one was completely empty, the two others had a glass preventing air from entering it.

Putting her face right in front of one, she could see on the other end the enlarged eye of a dwarf. Soon after, she could also hear his scream, as he was probably terrified to have seen the frightening state of the body of Leilade. Using a bit of mana just to disappear from their sights, she saw other eyes trying to spot her, to no avail. Waiting a bit, she did not hear too many noises, but the training warriors still retreated behind the natural stone walls.

Infiltrating by using the only empty hole, she landed on a pile of purple herbs, with many wooden sticks under them. Right now, two men were actively grabbing the same purple herbs and putting it where she was. Even if it was a small room, it was clearly organized, with four piles of objects. One was made of the wooden sticks she saw, and the other three were composed of small plants with different colors. It didn't take her long to figure out that it was an alarm signal, with probably three different colors.

After understanding that, she could also know what was those improvised telescopes purpose. Floating around the mountain, she saw three other underground fortresses, all with the same foundation. Bypassing some dwarves that were happily chatting while carrying some crates filled with food, she stumbled on a very thick iron door. On it, she could see numerous scratches and additional reinforcements. Trying to go through it, she noticed the shining little silver runes inscribed on it.

"Agnil will be pleased." Learning that at least the dwarves here had begun to discover the potential of runes, it also meant she could not do as she wished. Right now, if she advanced for another meter, her presence would be discovered. At the same time, knowing fully how small the range that such a thing had, she merely entered the solid stone above her and stepped aside from the iron gate. Gazing at the completely dark tunnel, she could see the numerous traces of something scratching at the walls.

As for the door forged by the dwarves, this side showed far more damages than the other one. Whatever was lurking inside those tunnels or deeper, it was clearly a threat for those living nearby. Creating a light to see what will happen, she only discovered that the magic that should have been reliable was already starting to fail. Creating a few more and ordering them to delve deeper, she could see the faint lights beginning to blink more and more before being extinguished forever.

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"And another place like the tomb of that troll. How many of those exist here?" Actually, she knew a few places that were presumedly in the same state, or in a similar strange environment. Like, for example in Massalia, with the Lake that had been turned into a deadly jail. The only thing she could get was rumors that something really bad happened, in a similar way that the Hero and the Akûl killed each other. After that, there was something in the North of the Synnada Empire and a mountain that had been abandoned by the dwarves after the Age of Calamity. Where she probably was standing right now.

Leaving the lone peak to continued her travel, she did not hear the numerous sounds that began to appear deep inside the tunnels. Unfortunately, the dwarves could only shake their heads after their ears picked it up. Grabbing the weapons and the armors prepared for this, the closest fortress to understand what was happening began to ignite a green fire, warning the others. Soon, the news was relayed to any of the hundreds of dwarves present, with each of them getting ready for a fight.

THUMP THUMP THUMP

More than one thing was hitting the iron plates that composed the few gates, making the very metal bend in some locations. After a few minutes where all the eyes were stuck to the barrier between the unknown creatures and the dwarves, the monsters began to slowly leave. Waiting a few hours even after no sound could be heard from the other side, each garrison scouted the tunnels, to see if nothing remained.

Scribbling on a piece of paper their demands for the next repairs, one dwarf also mentioned the weird thing that one of his subordinates saw. Even as he was writing about a little girl completely dark beside her eyes and her hair, he couldn't help but feel that someone drunk too much this morning. But with all the strange things that were happening in the surroundings, he wasn't sure whether it was real or not.

Packing everything, the group of designated dwarves began to leave the false security of the mountain and walk on the ground under the sun. During all the days they traveled, none noticed the darkness that was observing them from afar. After she found the end of the river, she could not see a single dwarf anywhere. Therefore, she had no choice but to return back to the mountain.

Fortunately, she found out this group that was heading somewhere. Taking care of anything that could threaten their safety, like a pack of monster wolves, she still remained invisible to their eyes. Leaving the travelers completely surprised that by the time they reached the large stone walls of the dwarven kingdom, they had not spotted a single monster.