Robert stood on the edge of the broken cliff, his cloak flapping quietly in the cold wind. The entire upper mine was gone.
Everything had vanished and the land ahead had changed.
The symbolic ice walls—those great frozen pillars that once guarded the mine—were shattered. Only fragnts remained, scattered like broken glass over the snow.
In their place was a massive crater, deep and wide, like the maw of so ancient beast. The hole led straight into the heart of the mine. The inner tunnels were still there—dark, deep, and filled with silence. But Robert didn’t feel relief. He felt dread.
"This isn’t good," he muttered, his breath fogging up.
The air around him shimred with rich ice mana. It wasn’t just cold. It was alive. Denser than anything he’d ever seen. Blue sparks danced over the snow, whispering in a language only magic could understand.
He turned and looked around.
The sky had cleared. The dark storm clouds had finally broken apart, and from their depths, the sun was rising.
The light spilled over the icy land like golden paint, casting long shadows on the frozen wreckage. It was beautiful, almost peaceful. The mountain forest nearby glead under the soft light.
But even then, Robert noticed sothing odd.
The monsters consisting of huge herds seed to have lost in thoughts. They looked lost and looked at one another.
Monts later, as if arriving at a joint decision, they were leaving.
He saw the beasts and creatures of the frost, stumbling back into the cold woods. Their roars were low, confused.
So started running
So flew away quickly.
They all looked restless like sothing had shaken their very soul. The ice mountain forest—abandoned for years due to the intense cold now began to stir with life again.
Robert narrowed his eyes.
"It seems we will be finally having a mont of peace."
This wasn’t just the end of battle rather it might be a new beginning for many as they the monsters moved deeper into the forest
He looked up at the sun, feeling the warmth on his face. It felt strange. And almost fake.
"This is the end of the Veydrin Duchy’s border," he said to himself. "Beyond this... is no longer ours."
His tone was flat, but inside, a storm brewed.
Kael.
The boy who had stirred things no one should stir. His death—if true—was going to bring chaos.
......
Back at the Camp
"What did you say?" Vic shouted, his voice cracking with disbelief.
"Everything’s gone?!" He pushed forward toward Robert but stopped mid-step when the Northern Lord turned toward him with a cold, sharp glare.
Robert said nothing.
Vic raised his arms in frustration. "Lord! You’re telling the whole place’s wiped out? That doesn’t make sense! Even an SS-rank wouldn’t be able to cleanly erase a mine that big without flattening the mountains! But this—this was done with finesse!"
Gare, who had been quiet, stepped forward. His face was serious, eyes sharp.
"Sir," he asked, "Do you an the miner town, the upper mine, and everything around it is completely gone?"
Robert nodded slowly.
"The entire periphery... close to a full kiloter... just vanished," he said in a low voice. "The explosion wasn’t random. It was powerful, yes. But it was controlled very cleanly with utmost finesse."
Gare’s eyes widened. "That’s not just a spell. That’s ancient. Possibly a tier of magic we don’t even understand."
Robert crossed his arms, eyes staring at nothing. "Serpent Fang was doing sothing there.It seed to have planned sothing big. And Lord Kael might have walked straight into it."
Baret suddenly slamd his palm against the table.
"That’s not the main issue!" he snapped. "What about Lord Kael?! What happened to him?!"
He turned and looked at everyone, his voice shaking.
"This is bigger than a mine explosion! That’s the Lord we are talking about not just anyone! If he’s really gone, the entire Northern Command might—"
"Stop," Albert cut in, voice equally shaken. "Baret... calm down."
"No! You calm down!" Baret shouted. "We should be panicking right now!"
His eyes then landed on Chris, the youngest among them. The boy stood stiff and pale, his lips trembling. But he finally spoke, voice small but clear.
"...I don’t think he’s dead," Chris said.
Silence fell in the tent.
Vic blinked. "What?" he muttered.
Chris looked around. "I don’t know how to explain it. But... I feel like he’s still alive."
Vic slamd his hand on the table.
"Are you kidding ?!" he shouted. "You really think he’s still alive after what Robert saw? After a full kiloter vanished?! Are you out of your mind?!"
He looked around at the others, furious.
"Why aren’t you saying anything?! You’re all acting like you’ve seen a ghost! He’s DEAD! There’s nobody! No trace! Nothing!"
Vic’s chest rose and fell. He looked around again, but the others remained quiet, their expressions unreadable.
He gritted his teeth, unsure whether they were shocked or just in denial.
"Are they so affected they can’t even speak...?" he muttered under his breath.
Robert finally spoke again.
"I didn’t say he was dead," he said, his tone cold.
Vic looked up, stunned.
"But there was nothing left—"
"There was nobody, Vic," Robert said firmly. "No remains. No trace of blood. No sign of death."
"More than that there was a huge spell and it wasn’t related to the explosion."
Gare’s brows furrowed. "A teleportation spell?"
Robert nodded. "Possibly. Or a spatial rift. Or sothing none of us have ever seen."
Albert stepped forward again. "That pillar of ice... the storm that ca after. I don’t think it was natural. I think Kael... triggered sothing far older than us."
Baret shook his head. "Then we have to search. We can’t just leave it like this."
Robert gave him a sharp look. "You think I don’t want to?"
The tent grew cold with tension.
Robert looked around at the group. Each knight, each warrior—shaken, silent.
"The truth is," he said, "We’re standing at the edge of sothing much bigger than Veydrin, much older than any Duchy or kingdom."
He turned to the window flap, looking back at the rising sun far in the sky.
"We need to contact the Main estate.Also we need to do sothing about the pile of dragon bones. Even in that state, it’s a pile of treasure."
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