Gray clouds hung low, as though the entire sky had held its breath at some ominous portent.
The smell of scorched earth mingled with a stench like corpses left rotting for days, slicing through the wind and into their noses.
An occasional gust brought another odor, like corroded metal mixed with rotten eggs, cloying as tar and nauseating.
All vegetation had withered. Not even the usual birdsong sounded in the woods. A deathly silence shrouded the dense forest ahead.
Vic stood before the cordon, with twenty Elite Knights in dark silver armor arrayed silently behind him.
A Knight stationed there hurried forward and barred his way, his tone stern. "This is a restricted area. Unauthorized personnel are forbidden."
Vic showed no irritation. He simply drew an iron token slowly from beneath his cloak, engraved with the sun emblem of the lord of the Red Tide Fief.
"Your lord sent me," he said evenly.
The stationed Knight's expression changed. His wariness vanished at once, and he bowed his head, cupping his hands. "Forgive my rudeness, my lord. Please come in."
"Mm. No harm done." Vic answered casually and stepped inside.
Passing through several layers of cordons, he surveyed his surroundings: the deathly stillness, the scorched black earth, and that strangely "too clean" scene...
There were no rotting corpses, no signs of tearing, as though everything had been "erased."
A Knight Louis had stationed here came forward to report. "From the beginning until now, we haven't found any living creatures approaching this area. The signs of battle end here as well."
"Nothing else?" Vic glanced at him. His tone was level, yet it made the man squirm.
The Knight lowered his head. "...No."
Vic said nothing, merely looking down at the ground beneath his feet.
He noticed fractures in the surface soil