Sunrise Expedition

January 15, Year 1 of the New Calendar

New instructions had arrived.

After the faithful had fully reclaimed the entire ground level, the Sunfire God delivered a divine revelation: the next expedition would proceed upward.

To that end, the Ashen Clan and the Glow Clan quickly convened a meeting to discuss how to put this strategy into practice.

Ashen City currently occupied the entire surrounding base of the mountain, including the Sunfire Temple.

This encompassed four zones: pastures, residential quarters, farmland, and warehouses.

There was also the Temple district at the very center.

In other words, anything seeking to leave, whether from higher up the mountain or underground, had to pass through Ashen City's territory.

As for exits, only two had been found in the entire mountain so far, though undiscovered secret passages could not be ruled out.

According to measurements taken by the Glow Clan's scholars, the distances from the central Sunfire Temple to the two exits were roughly equal.

These figures suggested that the Sunfire Temple stood at the very center of the mountain.

As supreme commander of the expedition, Gron immediately ordered the expedition squads to use these measurements as a reference and explore upward in batches through every secret passage they had discovered.

The expedition squads were a new formation Gron had created to scout ahead of the expedition proper.

A standard expedition squad consisted of three clan warriors and one chronicler.

The warriors would handle any dangers they encountered, while the chronicler would record the proceedings for reference in future battles.

An expedition was not something to rush, after all, so in a sense, the chronicler's role was even more important than that of the clan warriors.

Naturally, the Ashen Clan was unhappy about this. The original expedition had consisted solely of the Ashen Clan.

Back then, all they had needed to do was fight.

Yet now they were expected to reduce the number of warriors and protect a weakling who could not fight.

Most members of the Ashen Clan said nothing, but harbored resentment.

Gron immediately delivered a stern rebuke when faced with such remarks.

Later, he even explained his reasoning to his subordinates at a public gathering.

A fine warrior should never fear bloodshed, but detailed records could help an expedition prepare and reduce the blood spilled.

Every record of the unknown might one day help those who came after them overcome a crisis.

The Ashen Clan finally understood. The age of individual valor would soon pass; in the future, bugs would need wisdom more than anything.

Beneath the radiance of the Sunfire God, beneath the gaze of his chosen, they raised their heads.

This meant that the Ashen Clan's warriors had chosen to abandon their old traditions and follow the new rules.

Their chieftain's speech, combined with Pontiff Isara's persuasion through "love" and "reason," had won them over.

At last, on the day before the expedition, Gron resolved every issue within the ranks and united the Ashen Clan and the Glow Clan into a single force.

With Isara overseeing the expedition's supplies, there would be no problems on that front.

Aemon continued tirelessly recording wisdom, and reading through those books had benefited Gron greatly as well.

Everything was ready. There was no reason to wait any longer.

Gron stood on the platform, gazing down at the warriors assembled and ready to depart, then pulled the spear from his back with all his strength.

The tremendous force stirred a gust of wind, yet not a single torch around him went out.

The god is watching this place. Realizing this, Gron raised his weapon high and roared, "For the Sunfire God!"

"For the Sunfire God!"

"For the Sunfire God!"

"For the Sunfire God!"

The troops below joined in the battle cry, their fighting spirit surging.

Even the Fireflies, who had no ability to fight, were excited.

"Move out!"

The entire expedition sprang into motion. There were no elaborate speeches, no stirring addresses.

After the expedition's commander joined his warriors in their battle cry, the expedition began.

As a chronicler, Aemon would never miss such a historic moment. From a platform a little farther away, he sketched and took notes furiously.

"January 16, Year 1 of the New Calendar," Aemon murmured. "By command of the Sunfire God, Gron launched the second expedition."

One pair of hands captured the scene from the best angle, while another pair wrote sentence after sentence into his book without pause.

At that moment, Aemon was truly grateful to have been born with four pairs of hands, allowing him to draw and write at the same time.

"An expedition marching in the sunlight." Aemon's hands slowed a little. Watching the distant troops, he spoke from the heart. "Its name shall be the Sunrise Expedition."

Towering hardwood trees held up the entire cavern, and luxuriant plants displayed a vitality utterly unlike the level below.

Fluorescent spore-bearing plants served as light sources, growing in every corner of the cavern.

Enormous vines and branches formed a layered, three-dimensional landscape throughout the space.

This was the Sunrise Expedition's first destination.

The first chronicler to discover this place had named it the "Fungal Wastes."

It was hard to imagine that less than ten meters of earth separated them: outside lay a lifeless wasteland, while within, life flourished.

It seemed that the former inhabitants had completely sealed the passages to the outside, allowing a unique ecosystem to develop within this space.

So far, the expedition squads had only made cautious observations from the mouths of the upward passages. This second level contained four distinct regions.

With so little information available, Gron decided to strike first at the lushest of them, the Fungal Wastes.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Crash!

An expedition squad broke through the layer of earth overhead and entered the space.

The lush scene before them did not make them lower their guard. Instead, they became even more cautious.

"There don't seem to be any enemies here," one clan warrior said.

"There don't seem to be any traps either," another bug added.

"Let me see, let me see!" came a youthful voice tinged with impatience.

This Firefly was the expedition squad's chronicler.

Unable to pull past the warriors, the chronicler simply used their wings to fly out of the opening.

"Oh! Everything here is unknown!" The chronicler was so excited that even the luminous air tubes on their tail began to glow.

Such lush greenery was nowhere to be seen in the wasteland outside.

The chronicler immediately picked up their scroll and began recording with swift strokes.

The chronicler had six limbs. Apart from the two used for walking, the remaining four hands could separately write accounts and sketch illustrations.

Their eyes, which occupied almost half their face, could see details that ordinary bugs could not.

Although Fireflies' wings could not sustain prolonged flight, they could still hover briefly.

Combined with their thirst for knowledge, this made Fireflies exceptionally well suited to being chroniclers.

The other warriors wisely refrained from interrupting and instead kept watch over their surroundings, making sure nothing could launch a surprise attack.

One bug among them looked slightly different from the surrounding warriors.

Beyond the standard equipment, he had more red stripes on his body, and his nail and shield were somewhat larger than those of the other warriors.

Clearly, he was the captain of this expedition squad.

As the leader of the last squad to scout ahead of the Sunrise Expedition, he knew perfectly well that his intelligence would determine the expedition's next course.

I must not fail. No matter what, I have to bring back valuable intelligence.

The expedition squad's captain lifted the pendant hanging around his neck, a reward for his outstanding performance in the Battle of the Long Gallery.

The ornament, bearing the image of a ring of fire, held a trace of the Sunfire God's presence. The captain gently pressed it to his forehead. "With our bodies as kindling, may the flame never die..."

Whenever he could not calm himself, the captain prayed to his god like this.

As his prayer ended, the chronicler accompanying the squad happened to finish their work as well.

Under their usual strategy, the squad should have withdrawn at this point.

But...

"Advance." The captain made the expected choice. Recording things at the entrance alone was not enough; he had to do his part for the expedition.

With the captain taking the lead, the squad advanced in silence. This would be the first act on the stage.

Some time after they left the opening, an emerald-green head slowly poked out of the bushes.

The bug's compound eyes turned warily toward the opening. "More outsiders."

Whatever the figure was thinking, they soon vanished again.