Astonished Girl... At the foot of the mountains, forest ruins.
Not long after Anvis and Chom ventured deep into the mountains, the stillness of the forest was broken once more by a light set of footsteps.
A Half-Elf girl with brilliant pure golden hair and azure eyes like the sea arrived at the forest clearing, where fragmented pale golden sunlight filtered down.
The girl wore a fitted leather travel coat, with a thick cloth short cape draped over her slender shoulders. Its interior had been spatially expanded and held all kinds of alchemical tools and exploration supplies.
Having already entered the island's uninhabited wilderness and mountains, Claire had removed the inconvenient and uncomfortable disguise, returning to her original appearance.
In the girl's hand was a somewhat slender Ladies' One-Handed Sword.
The blade was forged from a dull silver-gray metal. Invisible currents of air curled around its thin edge, while tiny and mysterious dark-gold inscriptions were etched along its spine.
A vine-like openwork handguard extended smoothly outward, protecting the girl's fair hand.
Rather than a weapon meant for killing, it looked more like an exquisite and beautiful work of art.
Judging from the aura of power emanating from her, her true rank had astonishingly reached the peak of the Third Rank.
The Half-Elf girl was Claire. Following the slab's description, she had set out from the beach on the Lavanles side, walking northward along the coast until she reached the middle of the island, where steep mountain cliffs met the primeval forest.
There, she changed direction and crossed the remaining primeval forest, finally nearing the mountains.
The overall shape of the island's mountain range resembled a downward-facing "E." The two ends and the middle were ancient mountain ranges extending outward, where the curse was extremely powerful.
But between the two gaps