Chapter 22: The Missing Link (Additional Update)

The territory of the Bolt Kingdom is situated directly to the south of the Kwe Kingdom, taking on an irregular spherical shape, with little difference in distance from north to south and east to west.

Epunya continued to move his finger, pointing towards the southern region, close to a large forest located at the center of the map. Numerous red arrows ultimately pointed to this area.

“This is the Forest of Disaster, the largest primitive forest in the entire Bolt Kingdom, and even ranks among the top in the Wasteland, with very little development.”

“The reason for its name is that the number of ‘Calamity Beasts’ here is exceptionally high, and many sightings of the ‘Southern Disaster’ have occurred nearby.”

“Also, this is a significant confluence point of ley lines. Every spring, magical tidal surges erupt here, which is quite important.”

“The Forest of Disaster, huh…”

Vilyric recalled seeing this place in “The World’s Top 100 Unsolved Mysteries”; it was a hazardous area alongside the Forgotten Land, but it hadn’t mentioned any connection to the ‘Southern Disaster.’

Vilyric noticed that cities and towns around this forest on the map were particularly sparse. Even the capital of the Bolt Kingdom was notably in a more northern area, fairly close to where they currently were.

It was likely as Epunya said: due to the high activity of ‘Southern Disaster’ in this region, the population distribution was designed to avoid the formation of calamities.

The President continued to elaborate on his plan.

“Back in the day, I collected information with some friends, and after repeated deductions, we believed that there might be some hidden secret related to the ‘Southern Disaster’ within this ‘Forest of Disaster,’ which is why I led an army to attack.”

The man paused, looking up at the few girls who had formed a circle around him, listening intently, their expressions serious.

“Do you know? When the strong ones and I arrived at the Forest of Disaster, the latest sighting report of the ‘Southern Disaster’ was clearly a thousand miles away to the east, yet the ‘Phantom Cloud’ suddenly appeared soon after we entered the forest, surrounding and annihilating us. The outer waiting forces, originally prepared to deal with the Calamity Beasts, were also completely slaughtered.”

“What do you think… this means?”

The girls exchanged glances.

“Uh, is it possible that there’s more than one ‘Southern Disaster’? It left defensive forces behind here? After all, it was mentioned before that the ‘Phantom Cloud’ could split.”

Edwina was the first to propose a guess.

“Does the ‘Phantom Cloud’ have some method of long-distance rapid movement? Something like… spatial teleportation?”

The younger sister among the Winged People, Renée, made such a conjecture, while the more level-headed Leila delved deeper.

“Regardless of how the ‘Phantom Cloud’ returned to the Forest of Disaster, there must be something here that is quite important to it, is that what you mean, Mr. Epunya?”

The Beastman remained noncommittal, shifting his gaze to the silent Priestess and Giant Dragon.

“What do you two think?”

“Rules.”

The Little Dragon Daughter nonchalantly uttered two words, then lowered her head to continue fiddling with her roasted meat, no longer speaking.

Vilyric pondered and added her thoughts.

“Since it contains the term ‘Phantom,’ I don’t believe it’s without purpose. Based on your previous descriptions, and the fact that few have witnessed the ‘Phantom Cloud’ in motion, only seeing it wreak havoc and bring disaster…”

“Is it possible that the ‘Phantom Cloud’ is actually different from what we imagine or see, existing in some more special spatial dimension, akin to rules that cannot be described by common sense?”

“In simpler terms, perhaps it wasn’t the ‘Phantom Cloud’ that instantly moved here, but rather you were sent somewhere else?”

This was merely a crude and far from complete conjecture. Vilyric believed it likely diverged from reality, but as a starting point for their thinking, it was sufficient.

The reason for such outlandish speculation stemmed mainly from Vilyric’s associations with various characteristics of the ‘Southern Disaster,’ reminiscent of the vengeful spirit they encountered at the City of Courage, Iris Flower Orphanage.

Back then, Liliya and others couldn’t find the location of that thing at all and could only passively take hits until Fiery Blossom used a special move to injure it, revealing its trace.

That was because the vengeful spirit’s essence actually existed in a special space where the soul resided, an existence independent of the material space, similar to a parallel dimension.

The ‘Phantom Cloud’ surely wasn’t entirely like this, but it could serve as a reference.

“This…?”

As if suddenly inspired, Epunya widened his eyes, taking a while to regain focus as he looked at the black-haired girl, admiration clearly shining even brighter in his gaze.

“…as expected of Miss Vilyric! To come up with such a brilliant idea? I thought it might involve some incomprehensible rules. What you said makes perfect sense, no, it’s almost like hitting the nail on the head!”

The tall Beastman got so excited he stood up directly.

“Yes! Yes! Maybe that’s exactly it! We all thought that the gray mist was the ‘Phantom Cloud’ itself, but perhaps it’s merely some special means it extends! So, even if that presence extinguished the ‘Calamity,’ they couldn’t eradicate the ‘Southern Disaster’!”

“Well…”

Vilyric waved her hand, signaling the guy to sit down.

“Don’t be so worked up; it’s just a fleeting thought I had, without any evidence to back it up. So, our goal is indeed that Forest of Disaster, right?”

The President, finally calming his excited demeanor, turned the meat on the fire again, nodding.

“Yes, in any case, the ‘Phantom Cloud’ appearing in the Forest of Disaster across a thousand miles was too abnormal. Even if the truth is as Miss Vilyric says, something must exist here that it particularly cares about or needs to protect.”

“Additionally, the flow of the ley lines also indicates a problem. My thought is that if the ley line spring in the Forest of Disaster erupted prematurely this year, causing the ‘Southern Disaster’ to appear at the end of winter, it signifies that its base must be here.”

“In that case, we don’t need to specifically look for the ‘Phantom Cloud’; as long as we touch upon the secrets within that forest, the ‘Southern Disaster’ will surely appear before us.”

“Well… if it goes smoothly, that would be the best.”

Vilyric echoed what he said, but deep down, she felt like they were still missing some content.

For instance, why does the ‘Southern Disaster’ relentlessly cause havoc every year? Is it simply to satisfy its killing instincts?

Could it possibly have some hidden purpose? Such as plundering, absorbing energy, creating followers through parasitism, or reproducing more of its kind…and so on.

There was one more thing that Vilyric had always been particularly concerned about.

Why don’t the Four Disasters enter the United Kingdom of Humans? Is it truly due to some agreement made by their creators? And who actually created these calamity-like beings?

It’s unclear and incomprehensible.

Figuring this out was one of the reasons why Vilyric was willing to spend time and effort to slowly track down the ‘Southern Disaster.’

After all, the Priestess has always had a weak spot for interesting secrets and explorations.

Vilyric didn’t quite enjoy greasy meats; after eating a few bites, she gave the remaining roasted meat to her pet.

As a divine being, she didn’t particularly need the usual elements of survival like food and sleep. The reason she maintained such a routine was merely to satisfy her cravings and to preserve a sense of living in the mortal realm.

The outdoors in the Wasteland at night was not safe; bandits and magical beasts liked to roam at night, but this posed no challenge for Vilyric and her group.

Though Epunya mentioned being able to keep watch outside, Vilyric directly used an invisibility barrier that covered the entire temporary camp, dissuading him from the idea and sending him back to his tent to sleep.

   

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