There's a mountain of bones there.

Bones made entirely of blue ice. The hard brilliance was carved out of crystal. Huge bones of all kinds piled up, forming a mountain taller than the three men. The importance of the mountain has a huge lump of bones that tells what it is.

Mouou could tell at a glance that it was a skull. Empty eye sockets and elongated nostrils. Horns protrude from the back, and the protruding jawbones are lined with countless sword-like teeth.

"White Dragon's ...... bones?"

Murong Xue whispered.

"Is it dead......?"

"Ahhh......hh But dying is not that simple."

Yun Xu had regained his composure in his answer, but Mu Ou noticed that there was some kind of emotion in his partner's voice that he didn't usually have.

Yun Xu took a few steps closer and picked up a huge hook from his feet that looked like a dragon's front claws.

"Look...... There were a lot of scars on it, and a large piece of my toe was missing."

"Did you fight something...... But what a creature that can kill a dragon or something......

Mouu also had the same question in his mind as Alice. Speaking of "The White Dragon of the North", it is one of the strongest good guardians in the world that inhabits the regions of the end mountain range that surrounds the world, protects the human kingdom from the invasion of demonic forces. Who killed it......?

"These aren't injuries from fighting beasts or other dragons."

Yun Xu stroked the cyan hook claw with the tip of his thumb and said slowly.

"Huh?"

"It's a sword wound. The one who killed this dragon was a human."

"But, but...... You see, even the Xuanyuan clan has to run away. Ordinary immortal cultivators can't do it......

Suddenly, Alice closed her mouth as if she remembered something. Silence has once again descended on the surface of the Lake of Ice, which has become a great tomb.

A few seconds later, a whisper of awe erupted from her tiny lips.

「…… ...... enforcers? The enforcer of the Forgotten Immortal Gate killed the White Dragon ......?"

As the ultimate embodiment of law and order, the Knight of Integration slays the white dragon, who is also a symbol of goodness and a guardian of the human world. This is indeed unacceptable to Eugeo, who has never doubted the structure of the world in his eleven years of life. He held his breath, gritted his teeth and pondered the question, looking at his partner next to him as if asking.

「…… I don't know."

However, Yunxu's words also added to the confusion.

"Maybe it'...... There are also very powerful characters in the Demon Domain, and that guy killed the White Dragon ....... However, if that were the case, the Demon Domain's forces would have crossed the Ending Mountains and attacked by now—at least, it wasn't the work of thieves for the purpose of treasure......

With that, Yun Xu approached the dragon's wreckage and put the hook back on the mountain of bones. Instead, a long thing dragged out from beneath the mountain of bones.

"Uhh......h It's sinking to death......"

He staggered and dragged out a meter or so and showed it to Mu Ou and Murong Xue.

It was a longsword with a blue-skinned sheath and a pale gray hilt. The hilt of the sword is inlaid with very delicate texture imprints all over it, and at a glance it can be seen that it is worth more than any sword in the village.

"Ah...... Is this ......?"

Murong Xue held her breath and asked in a low voice, and Yun Xu nodded.

"Ahh It should be the "Sword of the Ice Dragon" that Xuanyuan wanted to steal from the sleeping dragon's arms. Why didn't the guy who killed the dragon take him away......

As he spoke, he bent down and grasped the hilt of his sword with both hands to lift it off the ground, but even with the strength to feed, he could only lift ten centimeters from the ice.

「…… No more!"

Yun Xu let go of his hands with a shout, and the long sword fell back to the ground with a heavy dull sound, smashing the thick ice out of the shallow pit. It seems that this seemingly slender sword has an unimaginable weight.

「…… What should I do about this?"

Mouou asked. The partner stood up and thought for a moment before saying.

"No, no, we can't get it back. That logging axe alone tosses us around enough every day. …… There are many other treasures under the bones, but ......."

「…… Well, I don't really want to take it......

Hearing Murong Xue's wonderful voice, the two nodded at the same time.

If you take something from under the nose of a sleeping dragon, it can be an adventure story to show off to other children, but taking a treasure from here is just a tomb robbery. "Theft" as defined in the taboo catalogue is an act aimed at humans, so it is not used in this situation, but it is not something that can be done without a taboo.

Murong Xue looked at Yun Xu and Mu Ou's faces again and nodded.

"As scheduled, just take the ice. In that case, the dragon will agree even if he is alive, definitely."

With that, Mu Ou walked over to the icicle next to him and kicked down the countless small hexagonal pillars that sprouted from the base of the icicle with his shoe. Pick up the ice that fell with a nice click and hand it out. Murong Xue opened the lid of the empty basket and put the ice inside.

The three of them were silent for a moment, working with the baskets filled with ice shards. Clear the base of the giant icicle and move it to the next icicle, then repeat the same thing again. After about 30 minutes of drying, the large basket was filled with clear blue jewel-like crystals.

"Good...... Hey."

Murong Xue lifted the basket vigorously and looked at the group of lights in her arms.

「…… It's beautiful. I always feel that it is a waste to take it back and melt it."

"It wouldn't be a waste to make our bento last longer."

Murong Xue immediately straightened her face when she heard Yun Xu's words, and handed the basket to the black-haired young man.

"Hey, do you want me to carry it when you go back?"

"Of course. That's pretty heavy."

Mu Ou hurriedly separated the two and was about to start the usual bickering, said.

"I'm also taking turns to pick it up. - If you don't go back, you won't be able to return to the village before evening. It's been almost an hour since you've entered this cave, right?"

"Ahhh......hh I can't see the outside time. Is there such a thing as an immortal technique that can know the present time?"

"Nope!"

Murong Xue snorted and turned her head to look at the small exit on the side of the wide Ice Stone Chamber.

Then, she turned and looked directly across the other exit.

Then, frowning, he said:

"Oh, where did we get in?"

Mu Ou and Yun Xu pointed confidently in the direction they came from at the same time. Each leads to a different exit.

*

After all the opinions of looking at the footprints of the three people (there were no footprints at all on the smooth ice), the opinion that the direction of water flowing out is the exit (there is water flowing out on both sides), and the direction of the dragon's skull looking is the exit (which was rejected by Kirito and the other two), Murong Xue finally came up with an idea that seemed feasible.

"You think, Mouo has stepped on a puddle of thin ice on it, right? So you should be able to see the crushed ice just two steps from the exit."

I see, that's exactly what it says. It's embarrassing that I didn't think about it. Mouu nodded:

"Okay, that's decided, let's take a look at the nearest side first."

"I think it's over there......

Yun Xu still muttered unrelentingly. With his left hand pushing his back and his right hand holding the ears of grass, Mulou walked into the waterway in front of him.

There are no icicles around that reflect light, and the reliable light is no longer so reliable. The three of them gradually picked up their pace.

「…… Really, I couldn't find the way back or something, so I would have made some markings along the road and gone back earlier."

"Hey, don't talk that stupid, take a good look at the ground. It's bad if you miss it...... Ah, speaking ......."

Murong Xue paused for a moment and furrowed her arched eyebrows slightly.

"Now, that's probably the distance, right? There is no ...... of broken ice yet. Is it really the other side?"

"No, a little further, right? …… Ah, wait, be quiet."

Yun Xu suddenly put his finger to his lips. Mu Ou and Murong Xue swallowed the words from their mouths and listened attentively as he said.

Mixed with the murmuring of the underground stream, something else was indeed heard. Sometimes high and sometimes low, like a sad flute.

"Ah...... The sound of the wind?"

Murong Xue said uncertainly. Mouou also felt that the sound was indeed similar to the sound of the wind blowing in the treetops.

"It's getting closer! That's right, let's go!"

Mouou shouted as he put his mind at ease and trotted up.

"Wait, you'll fall if you run too fast."

Murong Xue said as she quickened her pace. Yun Xu also followed behind, turned his head and asked:

"But...... Does the summer wind make that sound? I always feel ...... It's like dead wood in winter......

"The wind is strong in the valley. Anyway, get out of here."

Mouu trotted, the light in his right hand shaking violently. I don't know when, the mood to hurry back to the village and return to the familiar home continues to swell. If she asked for a piece of ice from Murong Xue and showed it to her mother, she would be very surprised.

However, the ice will melt away soon. …… As I thought of this, a glimmer of light appeared in the darkness ahead.

"It's an exit!"

He shouted with a laugh, but immediately frowned again. The light looks reddish. It was noon when I entered the cave, and I thought that an hour had passed in it at most, but it seemed that I had spent an unexpectedly long time in the underground world. If the sun is already setting in the west, no matter how hard you hurry up on the way back, you won't be able to catch up with dinner time.

Mouu picked up speed again. The high-pitched sound of the wind had overpowered the sound of the water and echoed loudly in the cavern.

"Hey, Mu'ou, wait a minute! It's weird, it's only about two o'clock now......

Murong Xue, who followed closely, made a disturbed sound. However, Mouau did not stop. Enough adventures are enough. Now I just want to get home as soon as possible——。

Turning right, left, and right again, the vision of the three of them was finally covered by red light. The exit is just a few meters away. Mouou couldn't help but squint his eyes, accustomed to the darkness, slowed down, took a few more steps, and stopped.

The cave ends here.

However, what is unfolding before his eyes is not the world that Mouu knows.

The sky is completely red. However, not the color of the setting sun. You can't even see the sun at all. It was as if the juice of a ripe grape was hanging down—or like a sheep's blood, a dull and gloomy red.

The ground opposite to each other is black. In the distance, the mountains with their sharp edges and corners, the strangely shaped rocks scattered in front of them, and the water surface on the left and right were all dyed black like charcoal gray. Only scattered dead trees are white on the surface like polished bones.

The wind blew as if it were about to tear everything apart, shaking the treetops of the dead trees with a long, mournful sound. Riding the wind, from a distance, another voice reached the feet of the three men—the howl of some large beast, I am afraid.

This place, this world abandoned by all the gods, could not have been the fault of the human beings in which Mu'ou and they lived. So- the scene that the three of them are seeing now is-

"Demon Domain"

Kirito's slightly trembling voice was immediately blown away by the wind.

Where the majesty of the Forgotten Immortal Gate cannot reach, the country of the Bloody Demon Race, the world that I thought only existed in the stories of the old people, is now just a few steps away. Just thinking about it made Mu Ou feel a chill from his bone marrow, and he couldn't move as he stood there. It's as if the information I've come into contact with for the first time in my life has flowed into a mental division that I've never used before, and I can't even handle my own thoughts.

In a blank mind, only a sentence written at the beginning of the taboo catalogue shone with a sharp light. What I forgot when I talked to Murong Xue yesterday, the first item of the first chapter and section. "No one is allowed to cross the end mountain range that surrounds the human realm."

"No...... You can't go any further......

Mu Ou turned his stiff tongue desperately and squeezed out the words. He opened his hands and blocked Yun Xu and Murong Xue behind him.

This is exactly the time. There was a sound of striking metal coming from overhead. Yugeo shuddered, looking up reflexively at the red sky.

With blood as a background, something white and something black are entangled. As a result of flying at a terrifying height, it becomes as small as a bean. But in fact, it should be bigger than people. Two things—two people violently swapping places, leaving, and then leaving, approaching, staggering moments make intermittent metallic sounds.

"It's the law enforcer......

Yun Xu, who was also looking at the sky next to him, whispered in a trembling voice.

As his partner said, one of the two flying bodies glowed with a pale white light, and the other had a blood-red glow. The one who rode the pale white sword was the enforcer of the Forgotten Immortal Gate, and the one who rode the blood-red sword should be the evil dark person of the Demon Domain.

Every time their swords intersected, there was a thunderous metallic sound, emitting a large amount of fire powder.

"The white side...... Is it the enforcer of the Forgotten Immortal Gate, ......?"

Murong Xue asked in a low voice, and Yun Xu replied in the same voice.

"Yes...... bar. The blood-black ones are the evil ones of the Demon Domain, ....... It's ...... to be on par with the law enforcers."

"How could it be ......?"

Mu Ou made a sound unconsciously.

"Enforcers are the strongest in the world. I won't lose to the Dark One or something."

"Who knows. Looking at it now, there is no difference in swordsmanship. Neither side can break through the opponent's defense."

Kirito's words just fell. As if hearing his words, the enforcers pulled away from Edgeworth, and the Darklings prepared to catch up.

However, before the distance between the two was shortened, the enforcer lifted his head, which had been hanging down, and made a gesture of accumulation. As his head reached forward, a sword unleashed blue-white flames that enveloped the Dark One's body.

The roar of the wind hit Mou'Or's ears. The Darkling writhed in pain, slanting in the air. The enforcer didn't let go of this gap, tightened his sword and put away his sword at some point, sealed it with both hands, and smashed a heavenly fire into the Evil One.

That day's fire pulled a faint trail of fire in the air, hitting the target, piercing the chest of the Darkling.

"Ah......h

Murong Xue let out a small sound like a mournful scream.

The Darkling's membrane was almost burned by the flames, and he lost the power to fly and spun and fell from the sky. The blood drowned in the air, trailing straight for the door of the cave where Mu'or and the others were hiding.

First, the Dark One thrust into the gravel-mixed ground with a dry sound. Then, only five meters away from the three of them, the blood-colored black sword fell with a thud.

Under the silent gaze of the three children, the Dark One writhed in pain, trying to prop himself up. The dull glow of the black clothes leaked ugly, deep, penetrating scars. His face, which was completely skinny, turned straight in the direction of Mu Ou and them.

He stretched out his right hand, which trembled slightly, as if asking for help. But, then, a large amount of blood burst out of his throat and fell back to the ground with a thud. The red liquid expanded and was sucked into the ground.

"Ah...... Ah......h

On Mu Ou's right, Murong Xue made a small sound, and staggered forward as if she was attracted—towards the outside of the cave.

There was no reaction from Mouou. However, the cloud on the left shouted "No!!" in a low and sharp voice. When Murong Xue heard his voice, she trembled and wanted to stop. But there was a stir under her feet, and her body fell forward. This time, Mu Ou, like Yun Xu, reflexively stretched out his hand, wanting to grab Murong Xue's clothes.

However, the fingertips of both outstretched hands will not reach and slide through the void together.

It's just a fall. Even if you check the "Window", the Mandate of Heaven will only be reduced by one or two points. However, the problem is not here. Alice's right hand, which she had reached out to her as a result of the fall, was about twenty centimeters away, and reached out beyond the unusually clear boundary between the cavern's blue-gray ground and the charcoal-gray ground in front of her. The pure white palm touched the pure black sand. Came into contact with the land of the Demon Realm.

"Murong Xue...!"

Yun Xu and Mu Ou shouted in unison, rushed over and stretched out their hands, tightly grasping Murong Xue's body. Normally, if they did this, they would definitely be able to do more than just be scolded for a word or two, but now they just tried their best to pull Murong Xue back into the cave.

Murong Xue, who stood up holding the hands of the two of them, opened her eyes wide and still looked in the direction of the Evil One, but after a while, she lowered her head and looked at her right hand. There are still a few grains of sand and small stones left on the soft palms. All of them were as black as some kind of engraving.

「………… I...... I ......."

Murong Xue muttered to herself, but couldn't say a complete sentence. Mu Ou stretched out his hands and wiped her right hand, sweeping all the sand from his palm, desperately organizing the language.

"It's okay, it's okay Murong Xue. We didn't get out of the cave. It was just a slight touch of my hand. It's not taboo at all. Right. Right, Yunxu!"

He lifted his face and looked at his partner as if he was looking for support. But Yun Xu didn't look at Mu Ou and Murong Xue. He fell to his knees on one knee and scanned his surroundings with a sharp gaze.

"What's wrong, Yunxu?"

「………… Don't you feel it? Muou. I always feel ...... Who's ...... Something......

Hearing this, Mu Ou frowned and looked around again, but there was not even a single insect in the cave, let alone a person. As far as the eye could see, there was only the evil one who died ten meters away. The figure of the victorious enforcer disappeared from the sky at some point.

"It's an illusion, compared to that ......."

Hurry up and take Murong Xue back from the other side of the cave.

Mu Ou was about to say this, but Kirito suddenly grabbed his shoulder. Yugeo frowned and looked at his partner's line of sight, his body suddenly stiffening.

Near the ceiling of the cave, there was a strange thing.

A purple circle that gently sways towards the surface of the water. Through the fifty centimeter diameter object, you can see vaguely - the face of a person. It was a face so flat that it was impossible to tell whether it was a man or a woman, old or young. His skin was pale, and he didn't have a hair on his head. There was no emotion in his round eyes. However, Mu Ou intuitively noticed that those eyes were not looking at himself or Yunxu, but Murong Xue who was sitting on the ground with his heart relaxed.

The man's mouth moved, and strange words could be heard through the purple membrane.

Then, the purple window suddenly disappeared. At this time, Mu Ou noticed that the man's words were somewhat similar to the sentences of the immortal arts, and hurriedly looked at Murong Xue, Yun Xu, and finally his own body, but he didn't feel any change.

That being said, this matter is too strange to ignore. Mu Ou and his partner glanced at each other, and the two of them helped Murong Xue up, almost holding the childhood sweetheart who was still trembling slightly, and trotted towards the depths of the cave - the direction from which they came.