Pillar of Yita

As for who the trigger was, one might have needed to venture into the bottomless abyss below to find the answer, but Fang Hong naturally lacked any curiosity for that.

It was only when he reached the middle of the bridge that a slightly perilous situation occurred: the bridge’s surface actually cracked open, nearly making him think it would break apart completely, causing Fang Hong to briefly wonder if he too had the blood of the Drake Family. Fortunately, it was just a false alarm. The people behind him lowered their centers of gravity and, under Fang Hong’s direction, climbed over one by one along the cracked section. The stone bridge creaked and groaned, continuously dropping sand below, but ultimately it did not break apart. After Dianmo Ran Qingzhu passed over, he couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief, looking like he had survived a great calamity.

He couldn’t help but exclaim, ”By the saints above, this really feels a bit like exploring ancient ruins—”

The Invoker didn’t actually have any real faith; it was just that phrases like ”by the saints above” sounded more impressive than ”dear God,” so over time, many Invokers adopted this speaking style rather chaotically along with the locals.

”Speaking of exploring ancient ruins,” Sophie suddenly said, ”don’t you all think this place looks somewhat familiar?”

Fang Hong naturally nodded his head; he had actually thought so earlier. He looked up at the spires standing in the darkness ahead, there was no doubt this was the deepest part of the ruins, but he remembered seeing this scene somewhere.

It was in the phantom realm that Toragotos had shown them, that city of ruins standing isolated in the darkness, which bore some resemblance to the scene before him.

But it was not exactly the same.

Perhaps because the place in the phantom realm was not on this bridge, and it was possible that it was even deeper within the ruins, whether this place was the eleventh or twelfth layer, these concepts were already very vague here.

”Few people have come this far,” Sophie also answered, ”I mean, lower down. These ruins definitely divide into several layers; we might already be near the eleventh layer, at least this place certainly doesn’t belong to the Scorched Earth Layer.”

Fang Hong again nodded his head, as he naturally thought the same.

After making their way across the precarious stone bridge, the group finally arrived at the other end of the bridge, which naturally also bore two obelisks, though it seemed there had been a minor skirmish here previously.

Several bodies lay limply under the obelisks, belonging to the Rain Listeners.

Other bodies not far away were clad in the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team and Blood Oath Alliance style battle robes. When Fang Hong saw these, he was momentarily taken aback; he hadn’t expected the Rain Listeners to have clashed with the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team here. Could it be that those dressed in black weren’t the undead?

As the group moved a few steps further, the scene unfolded with more bodies, not just those of the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team but also ordinary adventurers and other guild members, and even the corpses of Night Lizard People.

Fang Hong stopped, sensing something strange.

These bodies didn’t look like they had been fighting each other—for instance, those few bodies in front of him, where the Night Lizard People and the people from the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team stood back to back, maintaining that posture till their deaths.

If that were not odd enough, the bodies of the Rain Listeners, standing together facing outward, were indeed peculiar.

”It looks like these people were fighting against a common enemy,” Xiangzi also noticed, murmuring to himself.

”The enemy came from this direction,” Tainaric looked towards the other side of the bridge.

Xi was also there; after receiving treatment and stopping the bleeding, she was mostly fine aside from a slightly pale complexion. And right where Tainaric indicated, a tattered, dark cloak lay at her feet, she carefully hooked it with a war halberd revealing a metal headband underneath.

The design of that headband was somewhat unique; though it resembled a headpiece, it looked difficult to wear securely on the head.

”That seems to be a headband,” Sophie also noticed, quietly adding, ”but this style...”

Fang Hong nodded, imagining it, and also felt that such a thing would not easily stay on.

”This thing is really weird...” Parker picked it up without concern, inspected it from top to bottom, and could not help saying, ”It completely looks like an amateur’s work, kind of like something Luo Yu would make in alchemy.”

Someday Luo Yu is going to kill you, Fang Hong thought.

Sophie was somewhat at a loss for words, but what struck Princess Sophie of Silver Weslan was Papa’s nonchalance: ”Your friend really is bold...”

”That’s just how he is.”

Fang Hong sort of understood why that guy was cursed; touching things randomly in unknown places was basically the best way to get killed, but, for now, the guy was just lucky enough to likely not die immediately.

All in all, he made up his mind to keep far away from Little Fatty.

”That is a type of Serpent People’s crown, seldom seen, Mr. Knight,” but suddenly, Miss Tata’s voice came in his mind.

Fang Hong was shocked: ”Serpent People?”

Could it be that those clad in black were actually Xinsas Serpentfolk?

He suddenly realized this possibility, especially since the Elf Ranger had mentioned that those in black spoke with an odd accent. How odd could a human’s voice be, unless it were a Lizardman? And the voice of Night Lizard People around Fenris would surely be recognizably different.