The Silent Town

"I didn't doubt you?" Eleven looked completely bewildered.

"Hmph, you clearly don't believe Igneel exists. He really is real, he just suddenly disappeared..." Natsu said, becoming somewhat aggrieved. After all, he was only 11 years old and couldn't control his emotions.

"Huh? It's just a dragon, what's there to disbelieve?" Who knew that Eleven would make such an arrogant statement at this moment.

"Let me tell you, I've even seen unicorns. So what's the big deal if Igneel is a dragon?"

"A unicorn? That's so cool, is it for real?" Natsu's attention was immediately drawn, and his mood changed drastically.

"Of course it's true! Mira and the others have all seen it!" Eleven said proudly.

Although he didn't like that lolicon unicorn, it didn't stop him from bragging about it. Sure enough, this move immediately earned him countless admiring and envious glances from Natsu.

Feeling Natsu's admiration, Eleven's excitement grew even stronger, and he became even more unrestrained in his boasting. "Let me tell you, I even died once, but then I came back to life!"

"Wow, that's amazing! How did you do that?" Natsu was very cooperative in his praise, believing everything Eleven said...

And so, Eleven and Natsu continued bragging all the way from the restaurant to the train.

"Natsu, let me tell you, you have no idea how cool I was when I faced Deliora all by myself back then! Hey... Natsu? Natsu, are you alright? Natsu?"

On the train, Eleven was about to brag to Natsu about his encounter with Deliora years ago, but as soon as the train started moving, Natsu's expression turned strange, as if he was about to faint at any moment.

"Oh~ I, I was listening... Eleven, you said you're handsome... Ugh~ That feels so disgusting!"

Natsu, who already looked unwell, insisted on answering Eleven's question, but he couldn't help vomiting after only a few words.

Eleven:(ㅍ_ㅍ)...

After a long and arduous train journey, Eleven, carrying the half-dead Natsu, finally arrived at their destination.

"Trains... are terrifying, even more terrifying than Erza!" Natsu mumbled incoherently, still half-asleep.

"You're just carsick, some people do get carsick sometimes." Eleven irritably, using his Telekinesis to support the limp Natsu.

This was the first time he had ever seen someone with such severe motion sickness as Natsu. Laxus also seemed to get motion sickness often, but he never vomited and passed out like Natsu.

Laxus always tries to act cool, thinking that no one can tell he's really uncomfortable.

Huh? Laxus and Natsu... Do all Dragon Slayers get carsick? That's a strange trait...

Fortunately, Natsu quickly recovered from his weakness and was soon full of energy again. While complaining about how terrible the train was, he boarded the carriage with Eleven to head to the mission town...

"Ugh~ The carriage is terrifying!" This was Natsu's first cry of pain after the carriage came to a stop.

"Are you so prone to getting carsick?" Eleven squatted down next to Natsu and patted his back. He had finally managed to treat him to a big meal at noon, but now he had thrown it all up.

Eleven felt fortunate that he had come on the mission with Natsu; otherwise, given Natsu's tendency to get motion sickness, he might have died on the train just now.

While Eleven was still lost in thought, Natsu, who was vomiting, suddenly twitched his nose twice and abruptly raised his head. "This smell... it smells like eggs!"

"Eggs?" Upon hearing Natsu's words, Eleven subconsciously twitched his nose twice, but he couldn't smell anything except the stench from Natsu's exhaled breath!

"Yes, there's no mistake, this must be the giant monster egg mentioned in the mission. Let's go take a look!" Natsu had just been lying on the ground vomiting, suddenly perked up and jumped up, running in the direction he had chosen.

Eleven hesitated for a moment, then followed. He had originally intended to contact the client first, but since they had discovered the monster egg mentioned in the mission, there seemed to be no harm in checking it out. Since he was accompanying Natsu on the mission, he might as well go with Natsu.

Soon, led by Natsu, they arrived at the foot of a rocky mountain, where Eleven immediately noticed the countless enormous monster eggs scattered across the mountain.

What's truly terrifying is that all the eggs here are broken and empty; clearly, the creatures inside have hatched and disappeared.

Eleven immediately became alert, scanning the area with his Spiritual Power, not missing any clues.

Natsu, completely oblivious, exclaimed excitedly, "Wow, it's a dragon egg! It's definitely a dragon egg!"

Hearing Natsu's words, Eleven frowned.

Are these dragon eggs? So many!

Was Igneel a female dragon who secretly ran away to lay eggs? And where did the baby dragons go? Are there really that many dragons in the world?

Just as Eleven was about to discuss the question he was pondering with Natsu, several loud roars suddenly came from afar. The sound was so unique that even without Natsu's prompting, Eleven immediately thought of the word "dragon's roar."

"Ah, that voice is..." Natsu was also extremely excited upon hearing the voice. He jumped up and ran towards the direction of the sound, shouting as he ran, "Is that Igneel? Answer me quickly, Igneel!"

Before Eleven could even stop him, Natsu had already run far away. Standing on the rocky hill, Eleven looked in the direction the sound came from, and there it was—their original destination, the town where the mission had been issued.

A bad feeling gradually crept into Eleven's heart.

As the saying goes, "Looking at a mountain makes a horse run itself to death." The town looked so close, right at the foot of the mountain, but by the time Eleven and Natsu reached it, the sun was already setting.

The moment Eleven stepped into the town, he had a strange feeling.

The town was so quiet, there wasn't a sound at all.

The streets were also very messy and dilapidated, but all the signs looked very new, clearly indicating that the damage had just occurred. This was something Eleven had expected, as he had been worried that the monsters hatching from the eggs on the mountain would attack the town.

Strangely, despite the damage, the street was unusually clean, without any bloodstains or dirt, as if no tragedy had occurred. However, there were many broken red crystals on the ground, their nature unknown.

Are all the townspeople alright?

But what about the people?

From the moment they entered the town until now, they haven't seen a single person or heard a single sound. It's like a ghost town, full of eeriness.

Natsu ran ahead, anxiously calling out Igneel's name as he searched for him.

As the street turned a corner, Eleven suddenly snapped to attention, grabbed Natsu behind him, and warily watched ahead.

In his perception, many, many invisible, transparent humanoid objects suddenly appeared in front of him, standing together in a cluster.

These humanoid objects had no color, no sound, and even in his Spiritual Perception, they were only transparent outlines.

Seemingly having spotted Eleven and Natsu, the invisible figures turned around and slowly walked towards them...

A bead of cold sweat rolled down his spine. Had he really stumbled into a ghost town this time?