The further north one traveled, the more withered the land became.
Orario lay in the southeastern part of the continent. It was called the "center of the world," though of course, not in any literal, geographic sense.
Crossing the Beio Mountain Range to the north, then pressing onward past several nations, high peaks, and plains—
Little by little,
one began to see the flat earth littered with ruins.
The kingdoms of the north had all been destroyed by the [Visiting Dragon]—a single line recorded in the histories of the past thousand years, tossed off so lightly. Yet the world before his eyes was utterly devoid of living things. Not just humans; even birds and small animals were exceedingly rare.
From time to time, among the crumbling walls and broken ramparts, monsters could be seen prowling. Some, driven mad by hunger, even dared to attack him and the two goddesses—ignoring the fact that a Wyvern counted as a Lv. 3-class monster.
And still, they pressed on.
Only after venturing deep into this desolate desert did Isagi, guided by the goddess Artemis, finally find a few "supply stations."
These supply stations were all built underground, tended by adventurers in twos and threes—most of them Elves.
Isagi even met a countryman of Miss Elysia's, also from the White Ice Forest, who asked him to carry a letter back to her.
These people were all scouts who had stayed behind of their own free will, keeping watch on the [Visiting Dragon].
Nearly all of them were survivors who had once lived in the north, whose homelands had been destroyed by the Great Dragon—most of them Elves, tradition-bound and homesick.
"Originally, we were all stationed at the [Great Wall]. But with the decline of the Thor Familia over the years, it's no longer possible to organize a defensive line there. So all we can do is scatter and hold out."
As they walked, Isagi listened, bit by bit, to Artemis and the people who remained here speak of the past.
Piecing it together with the things he had already known, he managed to grasp, more or less, the present situation.
The [Great Wall] existed now in name only.
This second barrier, originally raised to imprison the Dragon Valley and to defend against the destruction wrought by the [Visiting Dragon] whenever it ventured out—this colossal rampart had completely lost its purpose.
And what was more,
neither Orario nor the [Academic District] could ever take up its mantle again.
Five or six days later,
at last, at the edge of the dim, gray horizon, there appeared a "canopy of the heavens"—taller and more immense even than Orario itself.
It truly seemed a wall built at the very end of the world. The [Great Wall] rose hundreds of meters high, giving the illusion that it pierced straight into the clouds.
After all, it had been built over several hundred years by the gods after their descent to the mortal realm, leading their own familias in its construction.
There was no telling how many capable and mighty figures had taken part, which was why it looked even more magnificent than Orario. And there, amid such an impossibly towering rampart, a massive breach gaped, appalling to behold.
It, too, was a colossal wound, vast as a mountain range.
One could scarcely imagine just what kind of monster it had once been that had passed through this rift.
The Wyvern no longer dared advance.
This Lv. 3 monster was also counted among the "dragon-kind," and it felt terror at the presence lingering here—and beyond the [Great Wall]. Had the Ganesha Familia not tamed it so well, it would surely have gone berserk long ago and bolted the other way.
Isagi had no choice but to spread his own wings and, carrying the two goddesses, ascend to the top of this cloud-piercing wall.
The [Great Wall] was indeed abandoned.
It looked even more forlorn than Orario's own ramparts, which had long since lost their practical use.
Everywhere lay crumbling walls and broken masonry. Some corpses had never even been laid to rest, and thick, aged bloodstains remained from years past.
That the Thor Familia had abandoned the [Great Wall] was clearly because too many of them had died.
So much so that this familia—which had once been able to hold Behemoth in check while also defending the Dragon Valley—had by now vanished without a trace, no one knowing where they had gone.
"Let's rest a while."
Any further, and they would reach the northern wastes where the Dragon Valley lay—the true "land of death" in every sense of the word.
As for this journey,
the Guild had not actually asked him to go take a look.
They had only said that, to guard against the [Visiting Dragon] appearing, he should keep watch here. Once Ryuu and the others returned from subjugating the Corrupted Spirit, and the city had military strength to spare, he could head back.
But Isagi actually wanted to go take a look.
And Artemis and Aphrodite, naturally, wanted to as well.
The gods had come to the mortal world out of boredom to begin with—and besides, the huntress goddess's spirit of adventure was second to none. Were it not for the Guild's rules, she too would have loved to "adventure and explore" down in the Dungeon—
——
The sky was a dull, ashen gray.
Once they neared the north, the sun could no longer be seen, and here it was worse still—overhead there hung only a kind of heavy, biting cold mist. Accompanied by the great winds sweeping past, it gave one a feeling of utter desolation.
Both goddesses were bundled in thick clothing and blankets.
Artemis expertly kindled a fire, set up a small pot, and began cooking curry.
Aphrodite, beside her, could only watch longingly.
The [Goddess of Beauty] would of course never cook for herself—though truth be told, Artemis couldn't really cook either.
As the huntress goddess, she had even been teased by Aphrodite for it: someone who loved to run off into the wilds, who yearned for a free life out in the open, yet had absolutely no ability to "live independently."
But there was nothing to be done.
Because when Artemis used to hunt in the wilds, the children of her familia had always helped her; she never had to do a thing.
Mmn—
The young goddess's lovely face flushed pink as she stared earnestly at the iron pot before her, following Lefiya's instructions—stewing as she went, tossing in vegetables and various seasonings.
All to avoid turning it into a great pot of some unspeakable "witch's brew."
Meanwhile, on the other side,
Isagi stood at the edge of the massive wall, gazing off toward the farther north.
There.
There truly came a certain sound—more than just the wind and sand.
In the darkness, Isagi could hear a certain "cry" that drifted over now and then—long, drawn out, unbroken—together with the colossal presence that truly existed within that darkness.
This was the [Dragon's Snore].
The precise principle behind it was unknown; all that could be confirmed was that it was the [Black Dragon] emitting some kind of sound.
And it was precisely because of this that the seal once laid down by the Great Spirit would weaken, allowing the Great Dragon within the Dragon Valley to escape from it and wreak destruction upon the world.
"Legend has it that after the great [Hero] Albert wounded one of the Black Dragon's eyes, it fled from Orario, heading ever northward. It even scattered dragon scales along the way—some of which remain to this day."
"The Black Dragon finally reached this far northern land, and to heal its wounds, it let out a roar, summoning every dragon-kind monster from across the world to come and guard it."
"And it was precisely this chance that the Great Spirit seized. At the very moment every dragon monster on the surface had gathered, she cast the seal, trapping them all within."
This was the Dragon Valley.
Isagi recalled the ancient legends and accounts shared by the goddesses Astrea and Demeter, and he couldn't help feeling that something about it didn't quite add up.
Going by his own experience of having crossed over into this world—
A thousand years ago,
Albert and his comrades should have encountered the Black Dragon in the deepest depths of the Dungeon.
So how could it have "escaped" the Dungeon?
Setting everything else aside—the starting road on the Dungeon's very first floor couldn't possibly contain a behemoth of its size, could it? Unless... the [Black Dragon] had utterly destroyed each and every floor of the Dungeon and charged straight out?
____
👻🔥Heey! Pat_reon: Walnut-chan for more chapters!🔥👻
🔥 New history: Zenless Zone Zero: Rewriting Fate in New Eridu — up now on The_Mikudayo
📚 40 chapters of early access waiting at Walnut-chan — that support is what makes the translations possible
Help us reach these goals:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 universal bonus chapter