Why Are You Here? (Continued)

It fell silently to the ground... completely like an iron wall!

This scene made everyone grit their teeth in disgust.

"... Your Highness, the chains have been broken."

The soldiers nearby quickly noticed that the chains above the iron gate had been unlocked... This meant that it was virtually impossible for the iron gate to be hoisted back up in a short time.

But... if the iron gate isn't hoisted up, how are they going to get into Kazdel?

With a thickness like that, let alone them, even if all the sorcerers of the Military Committee cast spells together, it wouldn't be able to break through this iron gate in a short time.

They even thought it might be simpler to make a hole in the city wall on the side.

But we can only keep it simple.

After all, Kazdel City's defensive design still follows the system left by Maria... and that system was built by the Gargoyle, who are the best at construction in the entire Sarkaz, based on their preparation to stay in Kazdel to resist the four-nation Allied Forces.

Its intensity was unimaginable! This scene left everyone somewhat bewildered.

They all turned their gaze to Maria, hoping she would offer some solution.

Maria responded quickly.

Without saying a word, she slowly walked to the iron gate.

A slender hand gently caressed it.

"Is this... a secret passage?"

The group pondered the situation, some of them pleasantly surprised.

Maria did indeed fumble around the entire iron gate for a while.

Finally, as if she had realized something, she took a step back...

"Found it?"

Everyone was thinking to themselves.

But Maria's next move surprised them.

Maria took a step and a half back, assessed the distance between herself and the iron gate in front of her, and narrowed her eyes slightly.

Then...

"Sulfone--!"

Before anyone could even see the movement clearly, they could only hear a sharp, piercing sound of a sword being drawn.

Then...

That iron gate, which all Kazdel people are proud of, and which the Gargoyle Court considers unbreachable...

Just like that, silently, a huge gap appeared, five meters wide and three meters high...

"Ah?!"

In an instant, everyone felt a strange sense of unreality.

Especially when they saw that the iron gate was more than ten centimeters thick, or even fifteen or sixteen centimeters, they felt their scalps tingle.

Maria just... chopped down that iron gate with one stroke?

This is not something that can be done simply by having a lot of strength.

Even Theresis, even that so-called god of war, Nitze... they couldn't do that, could they?

Maria... just like that, she cut it open?

Am I going crazy? Or am I still dreaming?

In an instant, everyone's expression became extremely subtle.

Maria, however, merely glanced at the red and burning incision before calmly speaking.

Don't get too close.

After saying that, she went inside by herself.

Theresis and the others followed closely behind.

As for the other soldiers... after exchanging glances, they also began to move without saying a word.

But everyone knew that their respect for Maria would only deepen once more...

Once inside the city, everyone realized that what they had seen outside was actually quite good.

The situation inside the city is now clearly much worse.

Logically speaking, only about a week has passed since the urgent telegram reached Theresis and the group arrived, but the entire Kazdel City seems to have weathered decades of storms.

The ground was covered with grayish-black dust, and the surrounding shops suffered disturbing weathering. The once bustling street was now deserted, and the dim sky couldn't let in a ray of sunlight...

It was as if every breath resonated with my heartbeat.

This... is very wrong.

The group remained silent and continued onward, hoping to find some living creatures.

Soon, Gordan's henchmen appeared before them...

It was a strange arthropod that looked remarkably like a toad.

It tiptoed, like some strange creature, cautiously approaching the two people.

Its strange appearance was somewhat irritating, but what was even more repulsive was the odd pinkish-white color of its skin.

It's like extremely dry sand, but on its surface, it presents a unique visual sensation of being moist and sticky.

And on this skin, one after another, terrified faces appeared.

Even from the best perspective, this is extremely disturbing.

What's even more unsettling is that when they discovered the monster, it seemed to have discovered them as well.

The bulging, horizontal eyeballs suddenly rotated, and the eye on the other side suddenly shrank back into the body, only to grow back on the side facing them.

Even when he turned around, his eyes didn't move at all... it was as if only his body was moving.

"This..."

Even though Theresis had brought only elite troops, they still couldn't help but feel a chill run down their spines when they saw such a surreal scene.

Something's not right...

This... this is definitely not right!

This couldn't be normal; the kind of life that exists in their known world... it's more like a fantastical monster that has escaped from another dimension!

"Gurgle--"

While Maria was still pondering, the monster had already reacted.

Its throat trembled slightly, emitting a somewhat strange low growl.

It clearly has four things that could be called hands and feet, but it only uses its obviously exaggeratedly long and thin fingers to move.

As the dozens of long poles move, it creates the illusion of a centipede-like creature moving.

After emitting that sound that was neither clear whether it was a warning nor a show of force, the monster immediately charged towards the group.

Although its behavior is bizarre and frightening, it is by no means slow.

In the blink of an eye, it was about to approach everyone present.

Fortunately, the soldiers on the sidelines weren't really intimidated. Under Theresis's command, they launched a counterattack almost immediately.

Faced with this unprecedented enemy, the soldiers did indeed panic, and even their coordination was much worse than usual.

Fortunately, although this monster was somewhat bizarre in appearance, it was ultimately not a follower of Gordan, and Gordan did not bestow his power upon it.

After overcoming their initial confusion, the soldiers quickly launched a counterattack.

With the skillful application of Originium Arts and the orderly planning of the team pulling back and forth.

They dealt with the toad-like arthropod with its bizarre skin almost effortlessly.

The various magical bombs blasted him to pieces, leaving him a bloody mess!

After seeing the soldiers do it, Maria walked over and began to examine their blood.

An anomaly occurred... but it seems to have only been affected, not truly impacted... There aren't many monsters in the city either, meaning that Gordan didn't, like other Great Ones, spread his power and influence after leaving the battlefield?

Maria frowned.

This news might be good news for the people in Kazdel... After all, monsters that have only been affected and mutated are easier to deal with, but if they are monsters created after Gordan released his power, then they really have no way to deal with them.

But...

This was not good news for Maria.

This means that Gordan has moved beyond the instinctive stage and is actively trying to engage with the world.

An enemy with a brain is always harder to deal with than one without.

As Maria thought about this, her brow furrowed even more.

Meanwhile, the soldiers who were keeping watch nearby suddenly noticed something was wrong.

"Who goes there?!"

He shouted loudly, raising his staff as if ready to attack at any moment.

Upon hearing the noise, those nearby turned around, ready to provide assistance at any moment.

Seeing that everyone was serious, the person hiding in the shadows didn't dare to stay any longer and quickly raised his hands, calling out to get up.

"No... don't do it."

"Um?"

Everyone was taken aback when they heard the voice.

Meanwhile, Theresis deliberately stepped out from behind the heavy protection, revealing her appearance to the figure hiding in the ruins.

"I am the Regent, Theresis. What has happened in Kazdel?"

He spoke, his tone firm.

The refugees who heard these sounds suddenly became agitated.

"Your Highness the Regent? Is it really you?"

"..."

Theresis didn't speak, she just looked at him.

The other person hurriedly ran out of the dusty room, looking disheveled. Although the soldiers nearby could roughly sense the other person's condition, out of professional instinct, they still stopped him outside the protective circle.

The other person was aware of his overreaction, but he still couldn't suppress his excitement, clenching his fists and muttering to himself.

"We're saved... we're saved..."

What exactly happened here?

Theresis understood the other woman's agitation, but what was more important now was figuring out what had happened in Kazdel. Had Theresa really offered no resistance at all?

What exactly is going on here?

"What happened..."

Upon hearing Theresis's question, the man paused for a moment, remained silent for a while, and then put on a mournful face.

"We... we don't know either."

"Just a while ago, we were sleeping soundly one night when we suddenly heard someone screaming."

"After that, lots of strange things started appearing on the streets... At first, we tried to fight them, but the bigger they got, the more there were, and eventually, we couldn't fight them at all."

"At that time, Her Highness Theresa declared a state of emergency throughout Kazdel."

"But just one day later, Princess Theresa announced the establishment of a temporary shelter..."

The man seemed to have been quite agitated; his speech was somewhat incoherent, but still somewhat coherent.

Based on what the other party said, the people present gradually recalled the entire course of events that happened in Kazdel.