I don't know if La Praral noticed the anomalies, but the dishes raised these concerns and didn't make us rush to sweep away the ruins. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

And, as La Praral said, although the treasures in the ruins are quite expensive, proper rest is still necessary. So we found a spacious and thickly walled warehouse in the nearby city to set up camp there.

From what I have observed, it seems that the vicinity of the warehouse was once a market or something, and here and there are stalls made of simple stone and wooden planks - so that after a simple remodeling, they became a fortification on the perimeter. At the same time, we also found a steel cage near the warehouse for the giant beast, and although it was long empty, the metal was still enough to act as a barrier.

It's not that I'm boasting, but with the strength of our expedition at the time, it was enough to use the materials at hand to build a temporary fortification with sufficient defensive capabilities. It may not be as strong as the frontline bunkers that the Wizards have specially strengthened, but it's more than enough to keep out monsters or barbarians.

Speaking of which, when I wonder if there is a need for such a strong temporary stronghold, since we have not found a single enemy in the ruins. It's no exaggeration to say, at least on the surface - Palapas is definitely the safest relic we can see.

However, Laprar still insisted that more caution should be exercised, so under his arrangement, the adventuring party built a sizable stronghold in the ruins. We kept what we collected in our strongholds, set up many warning traps, and even arranged for people to keep vigil in shifts in hidden places.

Of course, these preparations turned out to be futile, and we blindly guarded against the real enemy, but did not think about the more hidden things. The reason why the barbarians fear this city is not ...... Not entirely because of the dangerous monsters that sleep here, and the curse that is hard to describe in words.

I know you'd like to hear about our exploration of that ruin, but if I told you all about it, it would probably last night. And the vast majority of what we have ventured out of has not been able to bring back...... Probably except for the sequelae that are entangled in my body.

In fact, after this night we searched the city of Palapas for two days, without choosing to enter the Great Temple that was so close at hand. This was of course also La Playar's decision, as he believed that sufficient intelligence should be gathered before embarking on the next step of exploration.

But we didn't really get much, because although you can see valuables such as gold and silver jewelry or religious monuments everywhere in this ruin, it is incredibly there is no written record. At first, I assumed that it was because we couldn't read their words that we saw the symbols or patterns as ornaments, but when we searched the ruins carefully, we realized that they could hardly be called records.

Ah, I think I understand what you mean, you're saying that this civilization may not have created words, so it used other methods to express itself. But I must tell you that we haven't even found anything like knotted writing, and the only thing that represents their level in this regard is the ancient writing engraved on the ornaments.

As a scrivener, you may find it strange that this civilization has not left any record of its existence. We simply didn't find anything depicted with "words" in it...... It's incredible, and the most likely thing is that they've been artificially erased.

Whatever the truth is, I don't think the adventuring party found the answer until the end, after all, the people who entered there either thought that I was daunted by evil curses and was on the verge of death, or that they were completely insane. Once again, news of the City of Decay was concealed and disappeared along with La Praral.

Of course, at that time, we didn't know that we would face such a tragic end, and we just threw ourselves into the exploration of the unknown day after day. If there were any signs, several team members claimed to have had strange dreams or hallucinations.

I also asked the people at the time, and they said that they had dreamed that they had entered a strange, dark ruin, and that they were being hunted by all sorts of strange creatures in the dimly lit corridors, and that in the dead of night they would see strange shadows in the corners of the ruins.

No doubt their remarks soon became a joke among the adventurers, and a joke for the fellows when we gathered to talk about today's harvest - after all, they themselves felt that it was ridiculous for a veteran adventurer to be awakened by a nightmare.

And it seems to us that this is some kind of instinctive early warning reaction is too nervous, after all, their discomfort is only at the level of having nightmares or seeing some vision. You know, every member of our party has faced many difficulties in the mountains of the Northlands, and now it's too shameful to have nightmares because they don't adapt to the slightly eerie environment in this city.

Or can it be said...... Something doesn't seem right.

But we didn't choose to leave Palapaz after all, but continued to stay in the ruins and collect items of possible value. Those who had nightmares sometimes screamed in their sleep, but since no one else had anything out of the ordinary, most of us didn't care.

After a careful search of every corner of the city, the only thing we found was a large pile of jewelry made with precious metals and gemstones. And Laprar, who had obtained these precious trophies, was not satisfied, and after making sure that he was ready, he finally decided to challenge the temple.

But unlike those that have not been eroded by time, the hinges on the temple door seem to have rusted to death, and we have exhausted all means to open it. As it opened, the metal rubbed against the ground and made a screeching sound, like the wail of something inhuman.

Then, the stale aura of the long closure poured out from behind the door, revealing the dark interior of the temple. The darkness that had been trapped inside the building for thousands of years seemed to form some kind of territory, and the bright sunlight on the outside could not enter the world they occupied.

We froze almost immediately, and no one stepped a step, as the inside of the temple that appeared before us contrasted with the spotless old buildings of the city.

That feeling...... How can I say that...... Well, yes, that's the "normal" look of a millennia of silence, and the streets we walked through were so clean and tidy that comparing them to the realistic scene gave the impression of hypocrisy.

If at least one of the two sides is an illusion, then we would rather believe that it is the Great Temple in front of us. Of course, it is impossible to decipher the truth just by standing outside the door of the temple and breathing in the old and unfamiliar smell, not to mention that the sunlight shining on us is still so warm.

Thankfully, the excitement that filled our brains didn't freeze our thinking, and La Praral had already prepared a few resin-coated sticks to explore the dimly maligned area. He lit it without hesitation, and then let us line up and slowly walk into the temple.

The hall was pitch black, illuminated by only a few flickering torches, but with these things alone, we could more or less see the scenery inside the temple. The lower level was indeed made of black stone, and the walls were completely sealed - the temple lobby we were entering was a deliberately black space, perhaps for some religious reason.

By the light of the torches, we see that the floor of the temple is covered with huge and varied stone slabs, each with a different symbol depicted. Tall pentagonal columns support the towering ceiling, but from our vantage point it is not clear what is depicted on the ceiling.

In the depths of the temple is a metal cube depicting many humanoid patterns, which appears to resemble an altar, and directly above the altar is a large throne. The throne was empty, and all that was left was a lot of decaying flocculent accumulation.

No, in fact, it should be said that the hall of this temple has many decaying and completely disintegrated flocculent accumulations piled up in various corners. I couldn't see what they were, I could only feel a little bit of insignificant magic still lingering in the corrupt things.

There was nothing more in the temple than these corrupt things, and the vast room was empty except for us adventurers. But what is even more strange is that we do not find any carvings similar to those in the outside houses in this hall, and the whole space seems extremely simple, with no precious stones, no precious metals, and no patterns carved by craftsmen.

"What a ...... Nice temple, isn't it?"

As I looked at the empty inside of the building, I couldn't help but think carefully about the words I used to seek La Prar's opinion: "What do you think, La Prar? I think this is probably the court of this people, and the great throne on the altar is the seat of their supreme leader." ”

However, no one responded to my question, and Laprar, who had been standing beside me, disappeared without a trace, leaving only a flame floating in his original place. Not only him, but only then did I realize that everyone in the party was gone, that I was the only one left in the great temple, and that the door that had been opened when we entered was now tightly locked.

The flames floating around me gradually dimmed, and it wasn't long before I was locked in a dark that was almost solid.