Bermuda

Hugo's mind grew increasingly complex as he gauged the location.

According to the investigators, the ruins on the peninsula were ancient ruins constructed well over 700 years ago. If so, the mother body, which could be said to be the purpose of constructing the ruins, had also existed since at least 700 years ago and had given birth to mutants relatively recently.

Can such a thing simply be called a monster?

Hugo couldn't judge how to define the identity of the mother body that hadn't reached the end of its lifespan during that long time.

Moreover, when, who, and how they had the idea to pile up stones one by one to create a huge magic circle covering the entire peninsula to seal the creature, and how it was possible in those ancient times, and why a story related to it had never been passed down even once until now.

From one to ten, it was utterly impossible to speculate within the bounds of common sense.

As Hugo was racking his brain with the endless flood of questions, Meterion, who had been quietly staring at the erected map and magic circle, suddenly raised his head toward the sky beyond the structures. At the same time, Bruno also looked in that direction and said, spotting someone,

"Commander Molten seems to have arrived."

In the far distance where Bruno's gaze reached, more commanders were flying in. The speed of the one at the very front was extraordinary.

He seemed to be using teleportation consecutively, as his position changed every second, and in an instant, he appeared in the airspace above the base camp with a flash of light.

As Hugo's gaze, which had been directed toward the mountain ridge, also reached him, he immediately descended to the ground and roughly put down the person he had been carrying on his arm like a piece of luggage. Then, facing Hugo and Bruno, he saluted and said,

"Loyalty, Commander Liner Molten of the 9th Battalion of the Council's Southern Branch. Sorry for being late."

"Liner, welcome."

Bruno greeted him warmly, as if he had been waiting for him all along. Liner, who lightly bowed to the hospitality, dragged the senior investigator, who was suffering from severe motion sickness due to being carried roughly, and placed him in front of the commanders. Seeing him like that, Bruno asked,

"Did you bring what you told me about in advance?"

"Yes, for now, I only brought a part of it."

Liner answered like that and turned his head to the senior investigator, but the investigator was too dizzy to come to his senses, complaining of dizziness. Liner, who looked at him disapprovingly, took the records he was holding and handed them to Bruno instead.

Bruno, who had been looking at the investigator with concern, received the records and quickly skimmed through the contents on the spot. Then, after a while, he nodded and handed it back to Hugo, saying,

"Commander, you need to see this."

At the rather strong words, not even saying "please look at it," Hugo showed a puzzled look and received the unfolded records. As Hugo's gaze turned to the dense letters, Liner opened his mouth, looking at him,

"As you ordered, Commander, my 9th Battalion and I moved south for three days in search of the missing persons while chasing the dermocas. Then, by chance, we discovered ancient characters engraved on a wide, flat stele in ruins located to the southeast of here."

Hugo began to examine the written contents while listening to Liner's words. The upper lines were in ancient characters, and the lower lines were translated into the language of Raina Logia. It seemed that the 9th Battalion's exploration team had done the work separately.

The first thing that caught his eye was the era of "Raina Year 938." His brow furrowed slightly. That period was just before the founding of Raina Logia, going back about a thousand years from now.

Liner added, looking at the same place his gaze was directed,

"Perhaps our final goal of subjugation may be the same as theirs."

Hugo raised his head for a moment and met Liner's eyes. Then, placing his gaze back on what he was holding, he began to read at a fast pace.

[...July 17th. We went down south along the foot of Aindel, constantly cutting down the creatures. Reaching the now-vanished old Perman, we met the 3rd Garrison, whom we thought had been annihilated, and joined the outpost.

The creatures, sensing the strength of our forces, aimed for our rear and launched a surprise attack, but a dozen swift soldiers lured them to Odil's gorge, bleeding. We blocked their retreat by overturning rocks and shooting fire arrows, and the bizarre demons screamed and sank into the ground.

July 22nd. We recaptured Perman and Olga, and upon entering Santrea, devils three times the number of the allied forces crushed the white bones and set up camp. The terrain was steep and lava flowed, so dozens fell and died while hastily crossing the cliff.

As the creatures took advantage of the gap and charged, the enraged Sun King personally advanced and greatly swung his holy sword. Hundreds were annihilated in a single blow, and half of the mountain flew away, boosting the morale of our forces to an indescribable level, and the enemies were too afraid to dare attack.

July 29th. The ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ wicked leader, sensing the crisis, crawled out of the ground, slaughtering and devouring the soldiers. Its size was like a great mountain, and its appearance was hideous, as it had been eating human flesh since time immemorial and knew how to speak human language.

"..."

The uncanny power manipulated the underlings, plunging our forces into a quagmire and raiding the outpost. We didn't back down and surrounded it with a grand circular formation (Wongjin), so even the leader couldn't move easily.

The dazzling Sun stabbed the creature's neck and sealed it in a deep abyss, and a thunderous cheer spread, with no one under the sky not rejoicing...]

****

[The Sun King ordered us to create a huge, enduring circular formation on this land, in case the creature awakens, if we wish to live on this land.

We followed that order and rebuilt our lives and ─ together with Raina's ─ for five hundred days. We earnestly pleaded to serve him as our lord, and he promised to take us as his people and appoint us as the floodgate keepers of this land when he establishes a new nation.]

"To remember that promise and commemorate our benefactor, we erected steles in each of the four directions where evil sleeps, east, west, south, and north, and engraved the ...salvation of the past days."

Leonardo's gaze, interpreting the characters on the stele, had already passed the middle and was descending to the lower part. His hand brushed the surface of the stele, engraving each letter on his fingertips.

Alec, who had taken out a camera, stood behind and photographed the characters that filled the upper part of the stele without gaps, scanning down. From time to time, he also looked at Leonardo, who was reading through the entire text without much difficulty, with interest.

Unlike the two who were completely focused on the stele, Kenis couldn't relax his tension due to the smell of monsters and the furtive cries mixed in the blowing wind.

It seemed clear that the creatures were aware of this place and lurking nearby, but it was very strange that they kept circling the surroundings without revealing themselves.

In the meantime, due to the sense of duty as a Council member that he must be the one to detect any suspicious signs in order to protect the two, Kenis hardly paid attention to the contents of the stele.

As Alec adjusted the aperture of the camera and lowered the lens direction, golden hair was captured and imprinted on the image. He stopped his finger, which was about to reflexively press the shutter, and after pondering for a moment, lowered the camera he had put to his eye.

Alec, who had been looking at the back of the person who seemed to be completely entranced, even more than himself, suddenly noticed a certain passage at the bottom that Leonardo's voice had not yet reached. Quietly staring at it, he casually called out to Kenis, who was extremely tense next to him,

"Kid."

Kenis reflexively turned his head toward him and flinched for a moment. It wasn't a very pleasant way to address him, so he didn't answer, but he had already naturally reacted to it. To him, Alec asked with a grin,

"You know the fairy tale I mentioned earlier. Do you happen to remember the name of the witch that appears in that tale?"

"...Pardon?"

Kenis's head tilted at the sudden question.

His expression also crumpled a bit, but Alec added nonchalantly,

"It was such an unfitting name that I remembered it, but I forgot it, you see."

It seemed suspicious, as if he had some intention while speaking with a grin, but Kenis, who was scratching his head, slowly blinked his eyes and began to rummage through the contents of the fairy tale he had read as a child.

It was so long ago, more than 10 years, that even the content was hazy, but Alec's words that he remembered it because it was such an unfitting name lingered in his mind, and a piece of memory brushed past.

The clear eyes that had rolled upward met Alec's eyes once again. Kenis looked at the other person's pupils, half-hidden by narrow eyes, and slowly parted his lips,

"It's Millie."

"..."

The wind blowing from the forest once again shook their clothes and hair as it passed by. The corners of Alec's mouth rose meaningfully upon hearing the answer. To the clueless Kenis, that sight just seemed ominous.

At that moment, Leonardo's voice, which had been heard like a gentle background sound to Kenis's ears, gradually became clearer. Afterwards, for some reason, his gaze was reflexively drawn to him.

"The king said, they communicate in their own language and move like an army under the control of a leader, and they engage in slaughter, but that is also for their survival. They appear cruel on the outside, but looking inside, they are sacrificial."

Leonardo was still interpreting the characters on the stele, and judging by the position his hand reached, he was nearing the end, completely immersed as if being sucked into that time.

"The egg-laying being is served like a king, but if it fails to fulfill its role, it is abandoned, similar to humans but not human. Thus, the king said that the movement of that peculiar group was like bees."

As he went down, the worn-out parts gradually decreased, and the characters became clearer, perhaps because they were covered by the accumulated volcanic ash and grass. As a result, his voice also continued more smoothly.

"Therefore, he took the name from Melissa, meaning honeybee, and called the leader of the group Millie."

Suddenly, Kenis was startled and turned his head back to Alec. Alec was just smiling, looking at the stele.

Leonardo, kneeling on one knee in front of the stele, felt the sensation flowing down his spine spreading to his arms and legs, making his whole body tingle. He didn't know if it was rapture or shock, but the feeling intensified, creating the illusion that blood was rushing to his head and he was out of breath.

Nevertheless, his eyes ran tirelessly toward the end.

"That existence lives alone for a long time, lonely and like absolute darkness, and on the day it awakens, it will be enraged and try to devour everything, so the king ordered to be cautious and not forget even in later generations, and to convey our work for a long time, he named this land."

[Protruding at the end of the continent, it meets the sea on three sides, almost like an island.

What sleeps within it is the mother of evil spirits that brings destruction, another ruler that has existed since ancient times. The emptiness and fear it created are historical scars that should never be forgotten, so after that day, we named this land...]

Leonardo's pupils, which had been brushing the covered part with his hand, gradually dilated. As he inhaled shallowly, the wind blowing from the mountain range flowed into his lungs, and he instinctively raised his head.

Meanwhile, Hugo, who felt the same wind on the other side of the mountain range, was also stuck on the last sentence that Leonardo had not yet connected. His narrowed eyes also gradually widened, and then he slowly raised his head and looked up at the magnificent mountain draped in clouds.

Coincidentally, the two people, separated, looked at the same place at the same time and simultaneously said,

"The Elder Millie Peninsula."