Benjamin left the cleanup to the Black Giant Priests, having them lead the legion in sweeping the battlefield and taking prisoners.
Then he nodded to Karl, signaling for him to lead the way.
While the other wizards had been fighting, Benjamin had taken the opportunity to question Karl. After learning that he knew the exact locations of several ruins, Benjamin decided to explore them.
Karl walked ahead at a brisk pace. He could probably have gone much faster if he had not been accommodating Jack.
Jack followed beside Benjamin, his gaze occasionally sweeping over the hills leveled and the valleys split open by the battle's shock waves.
Even the mere aftershocks of the battle had been enough to drastically reshape the terrain of this Forbidden Zone.
The three crossed a wasteland scorched black by energy and eventually reached an unremarkable hollow in the mountains.
Deep in the hollow, an entrance dug at a downward angle opened in the rock face.
The entrance was small, allowing only two people to walk abreast. Its edges bore clear signs of excavation, though windblown sand and vegetation had obscured most of them.
Karl stood before the entrance and glanced back at Benjamin. "This is the largest ruin I know of. But like I said before, don't get your hopes up. After all these years, even if we only took a little each time, it's pretty much been stripped bare."
Benjamin did not reply. He bent down and entered the opening.
As the passage descended, the excavation marks on its walls gradually became finer, and the ordinary mountain rock gave way to a kind of polished, dark gray stone.
At the end of the passage lay a spacious underground chamber covering several hundred square meters. Its vaulted ceiling consisted of evenly sized stone slabs fitted