The light sources appearing on the walls were slender strips, thin as chopsticks, interlacing across the entire wall surface.
Perhaps because the wall surfaces had been struck by lightning, the light was very dim, like dying fireflies.
Even though the light was dim, its sudden appearance caused quite a reaction from everyone. They almost simultaneously opened their Aura Pores, warily watching the light sources emerging from the wall surfaces.
It wasn't just one wall… on all the walls visible within sight, light sources appeared.
"What's going on?"
No one dared to act rashly, only watching cautiously.
"Tonpa, any enemies detected?" Law asked while staring intently at the faint light stubbornly emerging from the charred surfaces.
"None," Tonpa replied quickly.
"Including inside the buildings?" Law confirmed again.
"Yes, no moving living things detected inside the buildings for now."
"Should we go in and take a look then?" Knov asked.
The timing of the lights appearing was too strange. Also, were these light sources activated by electricity?
Then, what level of technological development had ancient humans reached?
"Observe for a while longer before deciding," Law said.
"Law, my detection range..." Tonpa started to explain something but suddenly remembered Giles' presence. He stopped mid-sentence and instead said, "Maybe you could use En to probe."
Law looked at Tonpa, noticing his glance towards Giles. He understood but didn't use En in front of Giles. Instead, he nodded at Tonpa.
Everyone was pondering why the walls suddenly glowed.
Among them, Salin concentrated on observing the strip light patterns on the walls.
The areas where the light flowed seemed to be the originally meaningless engravings on the walls.
If memory served, those engravings were winding and disordered, having no connection to written language.
When first discovered, no one knew the ancient humans' motive for engraving the walls.
But now, the answer seemed to be emerging.
"Do you remember the original engravings left on the walls?" Salin pointed at the light sources on the wall.
Hearing Salin's reminder, everyone recalled and began comparing with the memories stored in their minds.
The light sources on the walls highly overlapped with the impression of the engraved patterns.
In other words, those engravings served a purpose similar to electric lights?
Ging murmured thoughtfully, "If these lights are converted from electrical energy, then the culprit might be the lightning released by the Mountain Ship."
Law said, "That is a possibility. But if that's truly the case, the technological level of ancient humans is just too advanced."
Ging looked at him seriously and said, "But on this continent, what is truly impossible?"
"Indeed..."
"So, how long are we going to observe here?" Kuro asked at an inopportune moment.
Hearing Kuro's words, everyone looked at Law.
Facing everyone's gaze, Law pondered for a moment and said, "Leave it for now."
As he spoke, he glanced at the ruins again, then looked in the direction the Mountain Ship had departed. "First, confirm whether that magical beast is alive or dead."
Eliminate potential hidden dangers first, then investigate the cause later.
This was Law's decision.
Everyone boarded Kuro's back one after another, except Giles, who remained standing still.
"I want to confirm the situation inside the ruins."
Watching everyone boarding Kuro's back, Giles said with a solemn expression.
Law and his group had things they needed to confirm, and Giles also had things he needed to confirm.
"Suit yourself."
Law withdrew his gaze from Giles and gently tapped Kuro's back, signaling him to ascend.
Kuro pushed off with his feet, leaping into the air.
Giles watched as Kuro rose into the air and suddenly said, "Thank you. I owe you this favor."
Law didn't look at Giles again.
Favors or not, he never cared about them.
Under Giles's watchful gaze, Kuro, carrying everyone, left the passageway, ascended to the rooftop, and then followed the direction the Mountain Ship had left. Using Tonpa's detection range, they searched for traces of Dice Nose.
Along the way, they discovered that the buildings with glowing walls weren't limited to the few in the ruins… every building they saw along the path glowed.
What exactly caused the buildings in the Ancient Labyrinth City to suddenly emit light?
Could it really be because of the lightning streams from the Mountain Ship's strikes?
While speculating, Tonpa's detection range quickly located Dice Nose.
It seemed that when the shadow cast by the Mountain Ship pressed forward, Dice Nose hadn't escaped very far.
Guided by Tonpa, Kuro carried everyone to Dice Nose's corpse.
The corpse, indistinguishable from charcoal, lay stiffly on the ground. Of the three long tails, two were broken in half.
"Even a magical beast with such thick skin was blasted into this sorry state..." Nobunaga couldn't hide his surprise. Among the people here, only he had a deep understanding of the thickness of magical beast hides.
This showed just how powerful the lightning was.
"There are other corpses here."
Machi approached a similarly charred Brion's corpse, flicking out a Nen Thread to lightly tap it. As a result, the blackened corpse immediately turned into a pile of ash.
"These corpses are all Brions parasitizing humans, right?"
"Definitely. Those round heads are too distinctive."
There were dozens of corpses in the passageway. Besides Dice Nose's corpse, all the others turned to ash at a touch.
After confirming Dice Nose's corpse, Law then looked at the lights on the passageway walls.
Not only were there lights on the walls, but also from the few small doors and windows seeped faint light, whereas before it had been... pitch-black darkness that seemed to devour people.
Coming here was only to eliminate the potential threat of Dice Nose.
Now that Dice Nose's death was confirmed, there were no more concerns.
However, the charred corpses in the passageway made everyone's mood somewhat heavy.
If even a magical beast couldn't withstand it, and with the Mountain Ship's lightning coverage being so comprehensive, the Herb for All-illnesses waiting for them to harvest had likely suffered as well.
"Tonpa, what did you want to say earlier?" Law asked.
"Nothing much, I just didn't want Giles to hear the principle of my ability," Tonpa explained, then continued, "The buildings have few and small doors and windows, which also affects the clarity of my detection. That's why I suggested you use En."
Law nodded, then walked towards the base of a walled building.
"En can also obtain quite limited information."
Law said this, then released his En, which seeped through the wall in front of him and entered the building's interior.
Everyone watched Law intently, waiting for the results.
The En slowly swept through everything inside the building until reaching its maximum range, then gradually retracted.
Watching Law withdraw his En, Ging immediately asked, "How was it?"
The others also looked at Law curiously.
Law didn't answer immediately but quickly processed the information transmitted by his En.
If probing for a single target, handling the feedback from En was simple. Conversely, if probing for everything within range, it wasn't so simple to process.
However, Law's mastery of En wasn't weak. It was just that with Tonpa around, he rarely used it.
It didn't take long before he finished processing the information transmitted by his En.
"There are many instruments and devices, and also... some strange things."
Law's eyes flickered.
Leaving aside those strange things for now, just the instruments and devices inside the building gave Law a sense of super-technology.
But this was... an ancient human site.