The black-skinned male demon stared at me blankly before lowering his head after a moment.
“Please come in.”
As we entered, he firmly locked the iron door and walked ahead.
“I’ve never heard the name of the Second Knight Order’s captain before.”
“Is that so?”
“Are you no longer wearing the mask?”
It seemed this male demon could not distinguish between Aila and me.
When we wandered outside, Aila wore a mask to conceal her face.
Since few had seen Aila’s bare face, this sort of misunderstanding appeared to happen.
“Where are you headed?”
“Emerald Bay.”
“Hmm. It’s a dangerous area, but there must be a reason for the Knight Order to go there.”
He appeared to possess a surprisingly flexible way of thinking.
“Please step onto the magic circle. There are four of you, right?”
“Yes.”
Once we stepped onto the magic circle, the teleporter immediately sent us.
Surrounded by a blue light, we arrived at a place that looked partially ruined when the light vanished.
“Wait, who….”
Seeing us suddenly appear, someone ran towards us in surprise.
“W-Who are you?”
“I am the captain of the Second Knight Order.”
“What are you doing in such a dangerous place…?”
“I heard there are people trapped in the city.”
The expression of the teleporter demon brightened for a moment, then turned quite grim.
“Our family has also been unable to escape! Please help us!”
“How many people are in the city?”
“I don’t know. There are undead swarming inside the city.”
If anyone has survived until now, it could be called a miracle.
“First, please just tell me the direction to the city. I will rescue as many as I can.”
I felt that I needed to actually go to the city to understand the situation properly.
If there are survivors, they would surely be holding out with Maran.
Soldiers under the command of the undead leaders would not be easily dealt with by regular civilians.
The teleporter provided us with detailed directions to the city.
Although it is located in a forest, if you don’t get lost, you will reach a large lake.
He said that upon discovering the lake, the city would be visible without even trying to find it.
As we exited the teleportation facility, a lush green forest welcomed us.
“From here on, the undead are said to roam, so let’s be cautious.”
“Understood.”
Jema drew her sword and swiftly swung it towards the shrubs.
“Kyah!”
One skeleton soldier turned to dust in a single blow from Jema’s sword.
“Is that an undead….”
I could clearly sense that Revelin was tense upon seeing an undead.
“As I mentioned before, it might be tough to help you if things get dangerous.”
“I know.”
Revelin folded his wings and put on his outer clothing.
Woosh!
Small swords made of mana appeared around Revelin.
“Are you going to fight with those?”
“Yes.”
I explained to Revelin how to see the cores, which are the undead’s weakness.
Although I had heard the explanation from the teleporter, due to the nature of the forest, Melorna, being much more adept than us at navigation, took the lead.
Even though the forest had no paths, Melorna walked forward without hesitation.
“I can smell water coming from that direction.”
Not long after Melorna said that, we arrived at the lakeshore.
Looking around, I could see the city adjacent to the lake.
Seeing the city, I thought it would have been hard to find if I had flown here.
Emerald Bay had a massive forest formed above the city.
Even being next to the lake, it didn’t seem easy to discover from the sky.
As we moved toward the city, the number of undead increased significantly compared to the forest.
The ones that used to roam the woods were now moving in groups of five or six.
“Should we charge through? Or…?”
“Let’s enter quietly.”
I confirmed that there was a water gate by the side of the city.
“I can’t swim.”
“Neither can I.”
When Jema and Revelin stated they couldn’t swim, I looked at Melorna.
“I don’t like going into the water, but I can swim.”
“What should we do….”
To enter quietly, using the water gate seemed to be the best option.
“I guess there’s no choice. Let’s fly low and carefully enter.”
Ultimately, we chose to fly as close to the surface of the water as possible toward the water gate.
I used polymorph to change my form to that of a young child.
“Then I’ll carry Revelin.”
“What? How can you carry me, even in the form of a child…?”
Before his words finished, I effortlessly lifted Revelin.
Revelin, suddenly in my arms, looked quite shocked.
Although my appearance had changed, my strength remained the same.
I’ve transported Jema in this form before with no issue.
“Then, do I have to carry her?”
“It should be fine since she’s light.”
With a slightly doubtful expression, Jema lifted Melorna.
“What? She’s super light!”
“Right?”
Melorna, half-elf and half-beastkin, was quite light.
As there were no physical obstructions to cover us during our movement.
Jema and I flew as fast as we could over the water’s surface.
Inside the water gate was a long and dark tunnel.
As we moved along the tunnel, various branches appeared.
“Which way should we go?”
While Jema was in Melorna’s arms, Melorna sniffed the air.
“That way. There’s a lot of air coming through.”
“Are you sure?”
“I can’t guarantee it. I’ve never been here before….”
Right now, all we could rely on was Melorna’s sense of smell.
For now, we decided to head in the direction Melorna indicated.
As we moved through the tunnel, we felt the water level decreasing gradually.
I transformed back into my adult form and tested the water depth.
“It’s shallow enough to walk.”
“I’m not a fan of getting wet.”
Melorna and Revelin walked, while Jema naturally hopped onto my back as she flew.
The somewhat dark tunnel gradually brightened, and when we reached the dead end, most of the water had disappeared.
Looking up, light poured in from a round hole.
“I’ll go up first.”
Flying to the hole, I looked outside and saw half-ruined buildings.
Upon closer inspection, it didn’t seem caused by war.
It appeared simply neglected and unused for a long time.
“I think we can go up.”
I spoke as I descended into the hole.
Bringing my companions with me, I began to search the surroundings.
“I don’t see any undead at all? What’s going on?”
I had clearly seen a massive number of undead entering and exiting outside the city.
But here, there wasn’t even a sign that people had lived here until recently.
“This looks like an old building.”
Melorna said as she walked out from an empty house.
“How old?”
“At least around five hundred years old.”
Though the city appeared to be covered in forest from the outside, most of the buildings were modern.
There could be one or two places that remained like this, but many questions lingered.
“Everyone, come this way.”
As I moved toward the direction of Jema’s voice, the surrounding area gradually turned darker.
“A cave?”
Entering, we eventually reached the end.
Jema was squeezing through a small gap.
The gap was just large enough for an adult to barely squeeze through.
Stepping out of the gap, we found a secluded alley in the city.
Hiding at the end of the alley, I carefully looked around and saw undead soldiers wandering about.
“It seems we’ve finally entered properly.”
We had made it into Emerald Bay city.
Now, we needed to find Maran and Epiro in this vast city.
Having arrived, I was at a loss about where to start searching.
Emerald Bay was a city spacious enough to rival Harfen.
Even wandering around aimlessly would be difficult, let alone with the undead lurking.
Among the undead soldiers, some occasionally emanated a dark aura from their bodies.
They felt entirely different from the ragtag undead wandering around.
We began our search, quietly moving through the city.
The route we chose to move along was within the buildings.
One advantage of urban areas is that the buildings are relatively close together.
The undead tended to move in the main streets, hardly checking inside the buildings.
It seemed they didn’t even investigate beyond the first floor.
As Jema and I flew between buildings, Melorna hopped over obstacles.
Since Revelin couldn’t keep his large wings extended, I carried him.
On the rooftop, I heightened my mana to observe the surroundings.
How did number five find those two, given that tracking magic doesn’t work on those two?
For a moment, as I pondered that, a particular building caught my eye.
It looked slightly different, but the sign nailed to it was very familiar.
I scanned the nearby buildings and plotted a route to move toward that place.
There were some sections that required a bit of a struggle, but fortunately, we reached the building without being discovered.
JS Hotel.
Number five must have used this as a starting point to search for the two.
The JS Hotel was a tall and large building that could overlook the entire city.
I tried to enter through the top floor via the rooftop but found the entrance locked.
Breaking in would be easy.
Grabbing the handle, I turned it around and broke the locking mechanism.
Beyond the forcibly opened door was a makeshift barricade.
A sign that someone had used or was still using this place.
Stepping inside the hotel, I found the familiar uppermost floor revealed itself.
Although the layout of buildings differs slightly in each region, the structure of the upper floors is quite similar.
Given that the door was open, it seemed there was nobody currently staying on the top floor.
Since there were signs of someone living there, I decided to check a lower floor.
Looking at the map, I confirmed that the hotel had a banquet hall in the center.
If there was any substantial gathering of people, it would be there.
When we arrived near the banquet hall, Melorna said she could hear voices from inside.
Focusing on my hearing, I too could hear faint conversations beyond the door.
The best way to prove they were not enemies.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
I politely knocked on the door three times.
An undead wouldn’t knock on a door.
The closed door cracked open, revealing half of a man’s terrified face.
“Who are you?”
“We are from the Knight Order. We’ve come to rescue civilians.”
The man’s expression brightened at my words, and he hurriedly flung the door wide open.
Behind the door were quite a few people huddled together.
