Candrasas rarely goes up to the topsoil because in the place where they live, on the third lowest floor, everything is already available and is usually exclusive. Whether in terms of food, entertainment, or the need for weapons for training, in the lower third layer of soil, was a world large enough for those special soldiers to inhabit.
Clarissa stays abreast of all the latest news, considering her job is to be a journalist herself. Since a year ago, she had focused on searching for Dirga, and she had only heard fleeting information about Dirga's comrades from Berawa who had been arrested. Lastly, was the news about Arta, which she had heard at least three to four times since several people who had tried to catch him had now been killed, their bodies nowhere to be found.
One of her colleagues had told her that Arta always came to the topsoil when there was one of Candrasas or subordinates of their elite. Previously, she was completely unaware of what her partner was saying, but after remembering everything and trying to piece together all the threads that were scattered around in her head, Clarissa was finally starting to notice the pattern.
Arta might be after one of the Candrasas, and he might not know how to get into the third lowest layer of soil where the Candrasas live, so what he can do is wait for the Candrasas to go to the top layer of the Yamani soil.
Clarissa knows a lot about the third lowest layer of the Yamani soil because she belongs to the ranks of senior workers who can access the area. In contrast to L-07 to L-04, which can be entered by anyone through the dimensional portal gates, in layers L-03 to L-01, all gates in the area cannot be accessed by any creature. It's also possible that the correct designation is not "accessed," but "found."
The 3-2-1 layer of soil, which is considered the center of the Yamani mainland, has a form that not all creatures can find. The Senior Workers themselves have a special door from each company to get into the third area, belonging to the Candrasas. However, even though they have access to the third floor of the Candrasas house, these Senior Workers still cannot enter the lower and deeper areas.
They needed a ticket to enter the bottom three layers, and that ticket couldn't be used by anyone. Another way to be able to enter the lowest third layer of the Yamani land without using the access belonging to the senior workers is ... by finding The Hanging Gardens.
"Perhaps he already knew about it?" Clarissa thought, subconsciously recalling the garden.
There were quite a number of beings who wanted to register as subordinates of the Candrasas, and they usually got to The Gray Mist, the main gate of the third soil layer, by first finding The Hanging Gardens. The park was easy to find, if only they knew how to sneak in.
"The trick is…" Clarissa muttered when she finally reached the edge of the thorny abyss at the end of L-07, "Suicide."
Her arms spread wide, she closed her eyes tightly as her body accidentally dropped down. Clarissa hadn't done this in a long time. The last time she plunged into the abyss was when she was 16 years old. When she was still pursuing her dream of becoming a member of Candrasas. Old memories that brought her to Dirga and made her lose everything.
At the seventh second, when a person has plunged into the abyss with their eyes closed, they should try to grasp something in their hand and open their eyes when they feel their body is suspended in the air. When that happened, what they saw first were … banyan trees with blue leaves and various humans hanging from each root.
Clarissa ... has now arrived at The Hanging Gardens.
The outermost part that surrounds the Gate of Gray Mist at L-03.
*BOOM!
She blinked to find several banyan trees collapsing simultaneously in the middle of The Hanging Gardens. Clarissa immediately let go of her grip on the banyan root and jumped high towards the place where the trees had been knocked down. She then began to unite the air of her existence with nature, then stood on one of the treetops and stared in silence at a man who was now again kicking a banyan tree that hung ten humans and destroyed the tree.
The man had skin as pale as a corpse. One of the irises of his eyes was dark red, while the other was pitch black. Unlike most Wrenas who have one horn on their head when not at full power, as she has it, Arta doesn't have that horn, probably because he's from the original human lineage that turned into Wrena.
"What do you want?" Arta asked, making Clarissa gulp unconsciously, because she thought Arta was completely unaware of her existence. "You want to arrest me?"
"You are… Arta, right?" She asked, making sure she remembered Arta's face she had seen on the noticeboard in her office lobby back then.
Arta turned to look at Clarissa, who was still hovering above the old banyan tree, with a straight face, not intending to show any expression at all.
"You know Dirga, right?" she asked.
Arta was silent. He hadn't heard that name in a long time.
"Look, I didn't mean to catch you."
Silence, still no response from Clarissa's cautious expression.
"Can you tell me where Dirga is?"
Arta didn't want to speak at all. His irises glanced at the unfamiliar girl for a moment before finally turning around and walking away. At least there was a passage he had accomplished today to approach Candrasa's base, and he had to rearrange his plans in order to get into the depths of that third lowest layer of soil. The strange girl standing on top of the tree didn't look like she wanted to attack him, and he wasn't in the mood to kill anything either.
He wasn't going to waste time on stupid conversations like this.
"I don't recognize that name."
Clarissa fell silent upon hearing Arta's cold reply.
"Didn't they say they were close friends?" she thought subconsciously.