SAINTESS [Chapter 37: Approaching the truth]

“Ow, damn it, that hurt! What the hell was that? Who put this thing here to trip me up?!” Winnie grimaced in pain, not knowing exactly what had tripped him as he complaining. Fortunately, even though he'd fallen and knocked over many objects, no traps had been triggered, quite lucky indeed.

“Huh? Wait, what's this thing here?” Winnie looked down and saw a black, flat object that had somehow dropped right before him. He stared at it with surprise.

He picked it up. It was a token carved from some unknown material, inscribed with obscure, incomprehensible characters that Winnie couldn't read. Along its edges were intricately drawn celestial symbols.

What is this thing??

These characters were commonly seen throughout the Mars dungeon. Clearly, they were Mars script, but Winnie didn't know what they meant. The Mars script system didn't belong to the Terraria continent's writing system, and was completely different from any human language currently in use. There wasn't even a shared linguistic root, utterly unrecognizable.

Isatia might be able to read it, but to Winnie, it was like divine scripture.

“Wait, is this something from inside the dungeon??” Winnie recalled seeing a notice posted at the palace gate earlier, warning not to touch anything inside the royal palace. The Mars dungeon was unstable, tampering might trigger hidden mechanisms.

Well, he'd already touched it, and nothing seemed to have happened yet, right??

Winnie looked around cautiously. The room remained silent and still, showing no signs of any traps being activated.

Then again, if there really were traps in this room, would they have let him stand around thinking this long? The ceiling would've already collapsed and crushed him flat like Aesphyra.

“What kind of token is this??” Winnie flipped it over and examined it thoroughly, but couldn't make sense of it. Just as he was debating whether to put it back and leave it alone, a tremendous explosion echoed from outside.

“Boom!!” Distracted by the sound, Winnie glanced at the token in his hand, then decided to keep it with him and later have Isatia take a look.

After securing the token in his pocket, Winnie ran out of the room toward the source of the noise.~

That sound... seemed to come from the direction Isatia had been exploring. Did something happen over there??

Still, she's the heroine blessed by fate, he didn't need to worry too much. After all, someone under heavenly fortune's protection wouldn't easily meet danger.

When he entered the right wing of the palace and saw Isatia's back, he noticed Aesphyra was already there.

Both stood motionless, staring at something. Winnie didn't know what had happened, but clearly Isatia wasn't in danger. Judging from the explosion, Aesphyra must've rushed here immediately upon hearing it.

Winnie was breathing slightly heavily. Just as he was about to ask something that deafening crash, like something massive collapsing, was, he noticed what Isatia and Aesphyra were actually looking at.

As Winnie turned the corner, the outside sunlight suddenly became glaringly bright.

Shielding his eyes, he followed their gaze and froze, his expression shifting to shock. The urge to speak disappeared.

The golden-red carpet they'd been following suddenly ended mid-way. The place they stood was now a colossal chasm, with the sun hanging high above.

Is this... the exit??

Winnie was astonished. The palace seemed so vast, how could they have reached the exit so quickly??

But wait, if it's an exit, why is there no path leading out? Could it just be an observation deck? But even so, that'd be too casual.

Winnie looked down at the golden-red carpet beneath his feet. It, along with the floor, was cleanly severed at the edge.

It didn't look like a deliberately built balcony. Rather, it seemed as if some indescribable force had sliced through this section of the palace entirely.

Winnie walked uneasily to stand beside Isatia and Aesphyra, peering downward. Below stretched an endless abyss of yellow sand. Clearly, no exit will be built here.

Yeah, standing here wasn't ideal. One gust of wind and you'd be swallowing sand.

No wonder the palace was filled with sand. Any sane ruler wouldn't open a gap in their palace in such a windy, sandy place. Who'd do something so ridiculous? It'd be nothing but trouble.

If this wasn't intentional, then something must have caused it.

And the structure...?

Winnie's expression turned odd.

Judging by the scale of the sand pit, it clearly wasn't formed naturally. The sudden, abrupt termination of such a massive underground palace couldn't be normal.

Could it be possible... that this enormous sandy abyss was once part of the palace? That later, due to some unimaginably powerful force, the Mars Palace was destroyed, or rather, “destroyed” wasn't quite right. It should be said that it simply... disappeared.

But that was simply astonishing. If this vast yellow-sand abyss really had once been part of the palace, then the scale of the Mars Palace would truly be astonishing, worthy of being called a world wonder.

What kind of force could make the Mars Palace disappear from the map??

And was this really a place where the Mars people once lived? If so, who caused the extinction of the Mars civilization? Who shoved them all into this dungeon??

What exactly did the Mars people do before they disappeared?

Suddenly, a thought flashed through Winnie's mind. He remembered something, he felt like he'd heard of a similar event somewhere before.

Ah, my head itches... Did he hear about this somewhere? Maybe... but why couldn't he remember at all??

Winnie scratched his head in the past, even pulled out a few hairs, but still couldn't recall.

Meanwhile, the other two had no attention to spare for him. Both stared silently at the abyss and palace ruins, as if scooped out by a giant spoon, their solemn expressions.

Right, what about that earlier explosion??

Winnie suddenly remembered. He looked toward the palace's broken edge and spotted several stones that hadn't yet fallen into the sandy abyss.

Looks like some earth or rocks had blocked the way earlier, and Isatia had blasted them aside with magic.

Before him, Isatia stared at the scene, deep in thought. Her violet eyes flickered with unusual light, the brilliance within constantly shifting.

Suddenly, she stepped to the edge, her gaze wavering as if searching for something.

Winnie glanced at Aesphyra, his eyes asking a silent question. But Aesphyra, lost in her own thoughts, didn't look at him and remained in deep contemplation.

What's going on? You two, standing there like this, what's the meaning??

Ugh, seriously, never team up with a bunch of cryptic people. This is exactly what happens, completely clueless about what they're doing, and they won't explain a thing.

So what's the situation here, exactly??

Winnie scratched his head. He was so close to reminding, this scene felt strangely familiar, like he'd heard about it somewhere.

But where? His thoughts hit a wall. He couldn't recall.

It was always like this. He'd feel he was about to piece together a conclusion from these clues, but at the critical moment, unless someone pushed him, his mind would just freeze.

It felt like... his brain's memory was full.

Then, as Winnie struggled alone in thought, he suddenly saw Isatia do something shocking.

She summoned her soul armament, three magnificent golden spears appeared like loyal guards, assembling beneath her feet to form a platform-like structure.

Isatia stepped onto it, then without warning either Aesphyra or Winnie, flew straight down into the yellow-sand abyss.

“Woah?!” Winnie was stunned. He rushed to the edge and looked down. The yellow-sand abyss was even larger than they'd imagined. Isatia's figure grew smaller and smaller, until finally seeming swallowed by the sands.

Compared to the massive waterfall of flowing sand, their figures were insignificant.

“Wait... what is she trying to do??” Winnie stood dazed for a long moment before finally speaking.

“Winnie, wait here,” Aesphyra murmured after a pause. With that, she drew her holy sword. The gem on the guard turned cyan, wind swirling violently around her. A powerful gust wrapped around her feet, lifting her from the ground as she glided down into the abyss.

If Isatia relied on the mastery of her soul armament, then Aesphyra relied purely on stats, using her immense affinity and control over all elements to create a powerful wind magic capable of flight.

Now, the pressure instantly fell on Winnie. He stood dumbfounded, watching the two girls fly away.

“Are you seriously doing this too??” Winnie couldn't help but complain as he watched their figures recede.

Seriously, you both can fly, what about me? Leaving me here all alone??

Well, given their abilities and fortune, they wouldn't run into danger anyway. Plus, they had protective tokens.

‘Guess I just need to wait here?’

Winnie let out a long sigh.

Of course, the flashy opportunities were reserved for the protagonists. He had nothing, better not try to act cool. What if something went wrong??

So, Winnie stayed at the edge, watching the two figures shrink into distant dots, growing smaller and smaller... and then,

They disappeared?!

Winnie's eyes broadened. He rubbed them in disbelief.

Did he see wrong? It looked like the two of them had been sucked into a sandstorm?

“Isatia! Aesphyra! What's happening?! Come back!” Winnie shouted frantically down.

But obviously, from such a distance, with such a fierce sandstorm, how could they possibly hear him??

No response came.

Winnie suddenly realized, beneath the yellow sands might lie a massive vortex of quicksand. By the time someone noticed it, it'd already be too late. It will suck them in.

“Damn it,” Winnie asserted.

So where were those two now? Were they eliminated and sent back?

Seriously, now what was he supposed to do?

Both powerful allies were gone, leaving him, a nobody, standing here for what?

“What exactly is going on here? Isn't this a palace? Why is there such a massive sand vortex below? It's like someone took a giant spoon and scooped out a chunk of cake.”

“The Mars civilization is strange too, vanishing so mysteriously. It's just like that thing, isn't it??” Winnie paused. A lightning bolt strikes his brain.

Ah, he remembered!

This scene...

Wasn't it extremely similar to what Isatia had once told him about the hidden history, the sudden, overnight fall of the ancient Carillian Empire??

Both disappeared mysteriously, leaving blank voids in history, completely unknown.

What caused the fall of the ancient Carillian Empire??

Ah, Isatia hadn't explained that part before leaving.

Right, if that were the case, it would make sense. Why both Isatia and Aesphyra immediately understood the scene while he only felt a vague familiarity yet remained clueless.

Clearly, both Isatia and Aesphyra knew. Aesphyra, as a descendant of the ancient Carillian imperial family, must have been taught the true history by the Galactus family. As for Isatia, even more so, her ancestors were directly involved.

They both deeply understood this history.

Based on Winnie's understanding of Aesphyra, she'd never do anything without confidence. Therefore, she must have extensive knowledge to dare descend into this devouring yellow-sand hell.

Winnie stood at the edge, staring down at the endless vortex below, like the gaping maw of some colossal sea monster. He felt his courage waver.

His budding curiosity was instantly extinguished.

This... this is too terrifying. What kind of thing created such a hostile environment? He had deep-sea phobia and giant-thing phobia, for crying out loud?!

Winnie didn't know whether the force that destroyed the ancient Carillian Empire and the Mars civilization was the same.

But if it was, according to Isatia, there was such a thing inside today's Carillian Academy too, and it was stored within the Order Spire.

As Winnie hesitated, whether due to the violent sandstorm or not, the ground beneath his feet suddenly emitted a sharp cracking sound. Before he could react, the entire edge fractured.

“Son of a— AAAAAAHHH!” Still lost in thought, Winnie lost his balance before he could even react. His vision plunged downward. Looking down, he was so scared his hair nearly stood on end.