Deliora

Before long, everyone arrived beneath the ruins.

The ruins were utterly dilapidated, filled with debris and stone pillars carved with moon patterns.

The group entered the ruins, but there was nothing but rocks—no clues whatsoever.

Happy seemed to have discovered something and kept rummaging through a corner, eventually digging up a bone.

"Lucy! Look what I found!"

"Are you a dog?!"

Gray looked around and said, "I remember this place used to be called Moon Island. The name Demon Island only seemed to appear in recent years, right?"

Gray's words gave Lucy a sudden idea.

"Do you think someone in the village outside accidentally touched some taboo inside, angering whatever was in these ruins and causing it to place the Curse on them?"

Ye Yang looked at Lucy speechlessly.

"What are you thinking? These ruins have been abandoned for nearly fifty years. Given how reverent those villagers are toward this place, there's no way they could have kept it hidden from us—unless the Village Chief lied to us."

"And there isn't a trace of energy around here either, except..."

Before Ye Yang could finish, he saw Natsu curiously stomping around everywhere.

Lucy warned him, "Natsu, don't touch anything. That floor doesn't look very sturdy."

"Hahaha, Lucy, you're really timid. It's fine."

Lucy looked at Natsu helplessly.

"By the way, Ye Yang, you were saying..."

Boom!

Natsu stomped straight through the floor, and the entire group fell down.

Bang!

(▼皿▼#) Lucy: "I told you not to stomp around!"

Gray: "You idiot, Natsu! You're going to get us all killed!"

Happy: "Mmph... mmph... mmph..."

Ye Yang: "Hahaha, this is pretty interesting."

"Gomenasai!"

"Ahhh! This isn't interesting at all!"

Just as they were about to fall into the lake, Ye Yang flashed with golden light and safely reached the shore below. Several arms of light grew from his back, catching the falling group and setting them safely on the ground.

Ye Yang looked helplessly at Happy, who had somehow gotten such a huge bone stuck in his mouth.

"Happy, how did you manage to stuff a bone longer than your head in there?"

"Mmph... mmph... mmph..."

Ye Yang then cut the bone in half before finally pulling it out.

"Waaah, I almost thought I was dead. Boss, maybe I should just be your cat instead. Natsu is way too unreliable."

Gray, still shaken from the near-death experience, said, "Natsu, you bastard, can't you think about the consequences before you do something?!"

Gray slowly got to his feet and looked up, freezing on the spot.

"How is this possible?! Why is this guy here?!"

"No... impossible!"

Everyone was puzzled by Gray, who seemed to be losing his mind.

"Gray!" Ye Yang's forceful shout jolted Gray awake.

Gray slowly turned to look at everyone.

"Gray, you're rattled. Do you know this guy?"

Gray swallowed, his voice heavy. "This guy is the demon that destroyed my hometown—Deliora, a demon that brings calamity!"

"A demon that brings calamity?"

"That's right, but this guy should have been sealed by my master on the Northern Continent. Why is he here?!"

At that moment, Ye Yang sensed someone approaching and immediately warned them, "Everyone, be careful. Someone's coming."

Hearing Ye Yang, everyone immediately hid behind a massive abandoned boulder.

"Ahh, I'm really sleepy at night."

"Yuka, let me tell you a sad story. Something scared my Angelica, and she still refuses to come out to eat."

Toby shouted helplessly, "It's just a mouse! Why give it such a fancy name?!"

"Tch! What do you know? Angelica isn't some mouse. She's a hunter that prowls in the darkness!"

=_= "Isn't your hunter too scared to come out now?"

"Hmph! If I find out what it was, I'll tear it to pieces!"

Yuka's expression turned grave after hearing Sherry's words.

"Could there be intruders?"

"The moonlight is almost fully collected. We can't afford any mistakes at a crucial time like this. We have to drive those intruders out before Lord Zero Emperor finds out."

"Then let the intruders sleep here forever. That is love~"

Hiding behind the boulder, Natsu sniffed the air and said, "These people aren't from the village below. They don't smell like villagers."

Lucy complained, "Are you a dog?!"

Happy said, "Those guys haven't been affected by the Curse."

Lucy and Gray both looked confused at Happy's words.

Lucy said, "Yeah, why haven't they been affected by the Curse?"

Only after the three had left did Ye Yang and the others emerge from behind the rock wall.

Watching the enemies leave, Natsu said unhappily, "Ye Yang, why didn't we take them out just now? Maybe those people are the ones behind the Curse in the village below!"

"What's the rush? They said that moonlight thing is almost fully collected. Shouldn't we find out what it is first? What if it's connected to the Curse?"

The group searched around the area again. Other than Deliora standing beneath the cave entrance, there was nothing else suspicious.

Ye Yang looked at Gray and asked, "I suppose you're the one who knows the most about this guy. Tell us."

Gray nodded and recalled the past with a grave expression.

"This guy originally lived on North Road. Ten years ago, he committed every kind of evil in Isban. My hometown and my parents were all destroyed by that monster."

"After that, many powerful wizards came to subdue him, but they all died at that monster's hands. That monster had a special ability: an immortal body."

"No matter how severe its injuries were, it would recover quickly."

"In the end, my master used forbidden magic to seal it away. The price of that forbidden magic was my master's life."

"Your master?" Lucy asked doubtfully.

"She was the teacher who taught me Ice-Make Magic. She was the strongest ice wizard I had ever seen."

"After she died, I remembered her saying that there were wizards even stronger than her on East Road. So, to find a way to become stronger, I came to Ishgar—to Fairy Tail."

After hearing Gray's story, everyone more or less understood.

Natsu said excitedly, "Then this guy must be connected to the Curse! As long as we defeat him, we can complete the mission!"

As he spoke, Natsu prepared to melt Deliora with fire.

Gray immediately punched Natsu.

"Idiot! This guy is immortal! He's still alive even now, and he's incredibly powerful. We're no match for him at all! Besides, your flames can't melt this ice!"

Natsu refused to believe it and scorched it with fire, only to find that it showed no signs of melting at all.