If the cliff that Zich chose hadn't been the one the Bellids were working on, Glen would have probably easily accepted Zich’s suggestion, since he would’ve been able to monopolize the credit of finding the Bellids by himself. Zich wasn’t stupid enough to think that Glen had offered to collaborate without any ulterior motives. Glen’s intention was obvious, and Zich knew that Glen wanted to do a joint investigation because the Bellids were specifically at the cliff that Zich had pointed at. Thus, Zich refused Glen’s offer.
“I understand what you are saying Mr. Zenard, but I wonder if we really have to do that.” When Glen opened his mouth to refute, Zich interrupted him again. “Considering your skills, I’m sure you won’t make any mistakes like that.”
“…” Glen parted his lips.
“Honestly, our relationship isn’t good, but I think we both acknowledge each other’s skills. I know I won’t make a mistake like that, and I also think you will be able to investigate quickly and thoroughly. Don’t you think so?” Although Zich answered a question with a question, he didn’t think Glen would say ‘no’ to his question at whatever cost.
‘If he denies what I’m saying, that would be the same as admitting that his skills are lacking. There’s no way that hero-obsessed guy would do that.’ If Glen wanted to act according to his plan, he needed to back down once and push his suggestion to do a joint investigation even harder. However, Glen responded as Zich had predicted.
“…If you word it like that, I suppose it can’t be helped. I will investigate the other cliff,” Glen said.
“I knew you would say that,” Zich said and stretched out his hand. “Good luck, Mr. Zenard.”
“You too.” Glen shook Zich’s hand and headed to the Horus Gorge.
‘That dumb bastard!’ Zich thought and chuckled to himself while looking at Glen’s back. Then, he said to the others, “We should also go too.”
Hans and Snoc soon followed him, and they went to the cliff on the opposite side of where Glen had gone. The sharp and formidable cliff stretched out before them. It was the sort of cliff that even a trained person wouldn’t dare to climb without the right equipment. For Zich and his companions, however, the terrain was nothing more than a bit-difficult version of a flat plane. Furthermore, one of their companions was Snoc, and he focused his mana at the bottom of his feet.
Grrrr! The stone plate they were on began to float. Zich tried knocking on the plate with his feet and looked down at it. They were quickly moving far away from the ground, and when Zich looked up again, he saw them quickly approaching the top of the cliff. Soon, they were able to place their feet on the top of the cliff.
Drip!
Something cold touched Zich’s cheek. Zich lifted his head up and looked at the sky. The sky was looking dark and cloudy like it was going to pour at any moment, and little droplets fell down.
Drip! Drop!
More raindrops began to fall. Zich felt a cold sensation all over his body and the drops on the ground gradually increased.
Shaaaaaa! Soon, heavy rain began to pour. The rain was so strong that it obstructed people’s vision.
‘It’s finally starting.’
It was the start of a long monsoon season. Zich indifferently looked down at the stream flowing toward the inside of the gorge. The stream still flowed like usual. The pouring rain caused ripples in the stream, but besides that, the stream was quiet. Yet, this wouldn’t last for long. Soon, the stream would increase in size from the falling rain and reveal its true ferocious nature to its surroundings.
“A river can expand in an instant,’ Zich thought and saw troops inside the fortress hurriedly making preparations. Fortunately, the fortress was far from the river’s influence, and the water would not flood that area. However, since the soldiers’ temporary campsite that they had been set up before the battle was located near the stream, Zich saw many knights leaving their rest time to prepare.
‘How unlucky.’ But they hadn’t planned to use the campsite for long anyway. Their original plan was to stay a night at the campsite and move to the fortress after making preparations. They planned this so that the soldiers could rest for a brief period and quickly go investigate the area. However, because of the brutal weather, all their rest time had gone to the gutter.
‘In the end, their plan to quickly dispatch the knights ended in nothing,’ Zich thought and didn’t concern himself with the matter anymore. ‘I’m sure they’ll take care of it well.’
It wasn’t as if their commander was a little child. Their commander, Mihen, was a knight with a lot of experience and he would know how to get out of the situation. It was then that a hand popped out of the cliff Zich and his companions were now on top of. A person crawled from below to the top of the cliff.
“You also came, sir?” Zich asked and Weig laughed.
“I can’t just rest peacefully when we have to find those Bellid bastards!”
“Aren’t you tired?”
“Even if I am old, I won’t get tired just this. My mind is still young,” Weig laughed again.
‘Well, I mean, it would be really laughable if this guy was tired from this level of battle.’ Instead, if Weig had lain down saying he was tired, Zich would have immediately suspected that Weig had been kidnapped or killed and that the man in front of him was an imposter pretending to be Weig.
‘No, in the first place, Weig isn’t someone you can kidnap or kill without other people noticing.’ If there was a person who could do something like that, Zich definitely wanted to meet them.
Zich then noted, “Lady Lubella didn’t come with you.” He had looked behind Weig, since Lubella stuck close to Weig’s side wherever they went, but he couldn’t feel her presence.
“The Saintess feels slightly tired from this battle. She had been burning with passion knowing that her opponents were Bellids, and there had been a city ritual on top of that. So, her will to fight was greater than any other time.”
“She must have pushed herself beyond her limit.”
“Thanks to that, a lot of people were able to live.” Weig shrugged and added, “But it’s clear that Lady Lubella is still inexperienced.”
“Well, she’s still young.” Zich also didn’t fault Lubella for overextending.
“Sir Zich, as someone who looks to be of similar age to Lady Lubella, I don’t think you should be saying that. Yet, somehow when you say it, I end up believing you.” Weig laughed out loud, and then his gaze immediately changed. “Let’s stop with the chitchat and begin looking for those rat bastards. No, we should call them mole bastards now. Even though those bastards’ god is a fish head, I don’t know why they’re digging the ground so much.” While Weig was mocking the Bellids like usual, they heard a rough sound.
Koo! Nowem stood up on Snoc’s shoulder and loudly protested.
“Hmm? Ah, oh my. It seems like I spoke wrongly.”
Even though Nowem was a magical beast of the earth, his appearance was that of a mole. Nowem felt angry that Weig was insulting moles.
“It was my mistake. I’ll apologize.” Weig formally apologized. Nowem nodded as if he accepted Weig’s apology and went back to lying flat on his belly on Snoc’s shoulder again.
Weig stared at this sight with curiosity. “You said that he was a magical beast of the earth, right? No matter how many times I see him, it’s so interesting.”
“It’s not only his appearance, but his ability is also amazing. We plan to get a lot of help from him again.” When Zich gave out a signal, Snoc nodded. Nowem also raised his nose and jumped off from Snoc’s shoulder. Then, Snoc put his hand on the ground.
“What are they doing?”
“They’re looking for the Bellids. Honestly, we don’t know where those mo… rat bastards are hiding right now underground.” Zich was about to say mole, but he glanced at Nowem and quickly changed his words. Fortunately, Nowem had his nose stuck to the ground and was busily moving around, so he didn’t catch Zich’s words.
“However, I’m sure that those bastards are somewhere inside the cliff. After all, if they want to destroy the cliff, it’ll be best to start from the inside.”
Weig nodded in agreement.
“If those guys have a brain, they’ll try their best to hide until their preparation is complete. However, the magical beast of the earth, Nowem, and his contractor, Snoc, will be able to find them easily.”
“Hmm, it’s definitely better than looking for them without any plan.” Weig seemed to like Zich’s plan. No, rather than like, he felt satisfied that they could find the Bellids as fast as possible. The faster they found the Bellids, the faster he could fuck them up. Weig opened his mouth to show his sharp canines and let out a murderous aura. “If we can find their dirty hideout, it’ll be easy to crack their heads open.”
“We can’t lower our guard.” Zich firmly said to Weig, who was already thinking up all kinds of methods to crack open the Bellids' heads. “There’s a high chance that they have the power they gained from using an entire city in their sacrificial ritual.”
“Now that I think about it, they didn’t use that power when we were attacking the fortress.” While they were slicing all the undead, Bellids, and traitors, those who knew about the sacrificial ritual, including Zich, were wary about their surroundings. The life force that they took from the ritual was an extremely great power. If the Bellids had used that power while they were attacking the fortress, they wouldn’t have won so easily.
However, the Bellids didn’t use that power, so they couldn’t lower their guard either. They knew for certain that this power existed, and as long as that power existed under the Bellids’ hands, it was clear that they would use it with evil intentions.
“I think those guys will use that power to make this cliff collapse.”
“I agree with your opinion.” Making a cliff collapse and blocking a river was no easy feat. The cliff was made of hard stones, and ordinary attacks couldn’t break it. This was even more true if the Bellids were planning to destroy such a large part of the cliff to block a whole river. Naturally, the first thing that Zich thought of was the power that the Bellids gained from the sacrificial ritual.
Weig said, “Even those Bellid bastards won’t be able to immediately control the power they gained from the sacrificial ritual. They’ll have to process the power first, and I think the reason why they’re quiet now is because they’re currently processing the power.”
“I have the same thoughts as you, Sir Weig. When they finish processing it, they’ll probably make the gorge collapse.” Moreover, the enormous amount of rain pouring down would combine with the destruction of the cliffs to cause disastrous flood damage around the nearby estate.
“As expected, it doesn’t feel right to leave all of this to Sir Snoc. Even if it’s less effective, I’ll also go look for those bastards.”
“Me too.” Zich also had no plans to leave the search all up to Snoc. He also signaled to Hans, and the three of them, excluding Snoc, scattered throughout the cliff. As expected however, the one who found the Bellids first was Snoc. Rain was still pouring down even then.