The sun was high up in the clear blue sky as it shone brightly and washed everything below it in its brilliant light thanks to the black sun's disappearance a long time ago.
The green leaves on the trees together with the bushes below them flickered with an emerald hue as they swayed to and fro gently whenever a calm breeze appeared from the west, blowing a few off and into the air with their destination unknown.
However, if one thought such a sight was akin to the scenery in paradise they would soon need to face the harsh reality as such a thing was only hallucination and real threat always lurked below the seemingly beautiful surface all the time.
Ever since the opening of the Ancient Path, let it be the wildlife or nature, everything has changed so much to the point where even a single strand of grass could end one's life in almost no time at all.
Even the emerald green leaves on the trees proved to be life-threatening as whichever surface they crashed into, let it be another tree's trunk or a boulder, they would always leave behind a small scratch showing just how terrifyingly sharp they were!
Of course, they were only harmful to existences that possessed no Legacy and underwent no evolution or simply had a weak physical defense to resist the sharpness of their edge.
As for beings such as Nash, who was walking next to Amy and Erys in the dense forest with vigilant eyes, these leaves held simply no threat to him at all. Thanks to him being on the 10th Level of the Mortal Rank, his skin was akin to rock and was solid enough to withstand any type of ordinary weapons' attack much less these leaves that were akin to butter knives to him!
Walking through trees with calm steps, Nash gave a sidelong glance at Amy and asked, "How far away are we from that place? Are you even sure it's this way?"
Amy, who made sure to remain not more than a meter away from Nash as he was the only one who could protect her if a beast appeared, scanned her surroundings with her indifferent gaze and nodded.
"Yeah, this is the right way. And I am pretty sure we are quite close to it."
Upon hearing those words Nash shifted his attention to the path in front of him and narrowed his eyes, seemingly with the hope to peer through the towering trees and see the sight far behind them. But of course, such a wish was meaningless as he could not see through solid things nor had a technique to do so.
Or wait...
As Nash thought about something he looked at Erys and asked, "Hey, Erys. Back when we were searching for Anna's whereabouts, how did you find the underground palace? Did you use some kind of special technique or what?"
Erys felt the familiar power that always forced her to do things she didn't wish to appear in her body once again and sighed in her heart helplessly before opening her small mouth to speak.
"Yeah, I have used a Domination Art called Seventh Sense. Despite being a Divinity Class Art, it is a rather weak and useless Art though, as it can only allow me to see things in a mile radius when I don't move."
"In a mile radius? And you call that weak and useless?" Amy asked with a raised brow, feeling pretty confused why a powerful ability such as that was called weak.
Just thinking about the many possibilities such an Art can provide to her, Amy felt her life would become much easier for sure. She no longer needs to feel anxious if she is lost or could not find what she wished to find.
As a fact, she could finally go and find the bracelet she has lost about two days ago somewhere inside the palace with no signs of it finding it ever since then.
How great would that be?
Naturally, if Erys would have heard her thoughts she would have definitely looked at her with eyes filled with contempt as that was not the right way Domination Arts must be used!
"Yeah, it is indeed a weak ability. You need to practice it for weeks to master it yet what it gives you in exchange for literally nothing! It doesn't even give you the tiniest of help in a fight as you don't even have the time to activate it!" Erys nodded, completely ignoring the 'are you stupid or what?' look from Amy on her side.
As Nash listened to what Erys just said, his eyes brightened up slightly, and said, "I hope you can teach me that Art once we go back. That would be great!"
Erys wished to bare her fangs at Nash and say go and fuck yourself, but what came out of her mouth instead was a 'naturally' together with a warm smile!
It was obvious she had no choice in regards to this matter much less to express her thoughts.
As the three walked through the forest while talking, from which only Amy and Nash talked and Erys was forced to answer, suddenly the number of trees began to lessen around them while a white path began to form in the distance in front of them.
"We are close!" Amy's eyes lit up brightly as she saw the jade path and her little feet began to quicken up their pace slightly.
From behind, she looked exactly like an excited little girl who was brought to a great waterpark in the middle of the summer and wished to go down the very first slide in her life after a long-awaited lasting!
The sight made Nash's eyes flicker with different emotions for a while before they turned back nonchalant once again, and as he wished not to see her suddenly dying by the claws of an unknown beast's ambush he too quickened his steps to catch up with her.
As for Erys, she had no choice but to do the same even though she didn't want to and her face was as cold and threatening as someone who just saw their parents' murderer for the second time after several years.
The three followed the white jade path without any arising problems and after a few minutes they arrived before this huge wall with a single arched gate in its center, that was seemingly crafted out of the same material that of the walls of the palace in the underground area!
"Archaic Symbols?" Nash knitted his brows gently when he saw that above the opened doors of the gate there were a few carvings, seemingly being the same ones as the ones above the palace entrance.
"What? Archaic Symbols? What is written there?" Amy asked immideatly when he heard Nash's words, seemingly interested to study and learn what the different carvings meant.
However, Nash instead of answering just looked at Erys and silently ordered her to translate as he has yet to know the meaning of each Archaic Symbol.
"It says nothing but two words, Forgotten City." Erys quickly explained, making Nash and Amy raise a brow and ponder silently.
But they couldn't think for a long while as suddenly Nash felt as he became anxious for no apparent reason and his right arm began to itch.
'What is this feeling? Why do I feel so unease all of a sudden?' Nash wondered as he raised his guard in a flash and glanced around.
"Something is coming," Erys said calmly as her eyes were fixed on the sight behind the gates and watched as a second later a figure holding a white longsword appeared on the horizon, his destination obviously them as he walked toward their direction with steady and firm steps.
* * * * * *
A/N: Hope you enjoy the story so far! Make sure to leave behind your thoughts in the comment section or review <3!