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/Drip… Drip…/

Not long after meeting again, Dale was dragged by Testros into the underground.

Within the dark Root passageways, the search for the lost Expedition party had begun!

/Splat.../

"Eww... What did I just step on?" Dale complained as he looked at the ground

\'I think that\'s a mushroom? Why is it so damn viscous?!\'

"..."

Testros did not reply, it was unlike him, he would\'ve joked a little or told him to pay more attention.

But now, he was completely and utterly silent, and if not for the sound of his steps, Dale wouldn\'t even know he was there.

"Cough!"

\'This guy\'s gloom is darker than the night sky...\'

\'Time to improvise something.\'

"So… Now that we\'re here…"

"Yes, I\'ll explain it all." He replied quickly and deeply without changing his gaze, eyes on the road always

"..."

\'At least he\'s talking, I call that progress...\'

"These people we just met... They\'re the direct descendants of the survivors that fled from the numerous structures surrounding the Wall and the forest during the heyday of its fall."

"Some of them were there to see the Wall fall… Albeit by now, they are essentially useless due to their age."

"Those that can at least move around a bit do not remember anything as they were only small babies when it all happened, or mayhaps weren\'t even "there" yet…"

"It\'s a miracle they even survived it… And another they\'re still here to share what little they know."

"Mayhaps... They\'re the children of my companions... I do remember some that did have children..." He added in a melancholic tone as he looked at the shiny bugs on the ceiling of the root

Testros didn\'t speak much after that, continuing after a moment of silence.

"I previously believed these people were sole survivors of the Wall itself, but I was wrong... After all, if that were the case, much less me who ran from the Wall to the North, we would\'ve had many other survivors."

"This isn\'t something that can be explained solely by luck, in some of these Outposts there were Knights and Warriors that were more than strong enough to just turn away and arrive at Resko."

"But none did."

"Hum... That is indeed food for thought..." Dale mumbled to himself as he stretched his back

"It\'s rather simple, the reason why there are no survivors in safer places like the Port by the lake we passed by in the North is that during an emergency, all personnel are meant to gather in strategic areas for the sake of defending…"

"Usually further South... Their defenses are meant to be abandoned one by one as they go North..."

"Instead of fleeing, they gathered deeper inside… You can imagine what happened after."

"Everything happened too fast and the chain of Command shattered completely, without orders, soldiers were left to fend for themselves... And Human nature overtook their training."

"You shouldn\'t expect much from personnel that aren\'t directly employed in the Wall after all... But it\'s not right and above all meaningless to curse the dead after so long anyway."

"..."

\'The Greed of man knows no bounds... In Chaos, I wonder how many thought that if they managed to steal one decent set of armor and sell it outside...\'

\'Armor isn\'t cheap, much less full plate, it\'s enough for them to live well, especially if they also steal their "friends\'" wages and treasures.\'

"Those that survived eventually gathered together over the days, weeks, months after the fallout as the dust settled and they managed to sneak in through the forest and underground passageways."

"Most of them are survivors from the people on the Wall, wounded Knights, Guards, Engineers, and even Mages..."

"People that weren\'t tasked directly with fighting… People that had time to hear the message of the Commander to flee and regroup beyond the wall before they were mauled to death by the beasts that breached their defenses."

"After over 90 years, they made a community over 1000 strong, it may seem little compared to the number of people the Southern Corps had once, but that is the cruelty of their defeat… What it truly means for the Corps to fall."

"And what will likely be of the far future if the Wall truly vanishes one day." He said as he shook his head

"In truth, there are more survivors, but they are a bit… Scattered."

"In these dark tunnels, there are many small bases that can sustain small families, sometimes with ten or fewer members."

"They\'re like rural family farmers, cultivating crops that can grow with little to no sunlight."

"When put together, the total number of the survivors may border between 1300 and 1500."

"Our objective this time isn\'t to gather them to leave this place, that is the job of the other survivors, we\'re here to rescue the Expedition team."

"... But who are they?" Dale asked as he stopped to look at a strange creature in the ceiling, it looked like a snake but it had wings

It seemed to be sleeping.

\'Weird ass snake...\' Dale thought before he was jolted awake by Testros\' voice:

"The Expedition team... Is a joint effort of all Survivors with the intent of Raiding the Ancient constructions of the Corps in search of anything they can find."

"Old bases, Armories, Supply caches, Outposts… You name it."

"Even dismantling the old infrastructure to use it for their means, they were their lifeline, it was an honor to join them..."

"Even the Wall itself… Though they tended to avoid it, I don\'t need to remember you why."

"... That thing huh…" Dale whispered as he remembered the creature he met in the Wall

"Correct… And in fact, I believe we may be partially why the Survivors are struggling as much as they are."

"What?"

\'Is this perhaps a consequence of my actions?\'

\'When you have so many Quests stacked together, choosing one over the other could lead to severe branching consequences down the line, perhaps not evident at first, but when the bodies of my friends and family are to lay beneath my foot, then I\'ll realize them...\'

\'I hope they weren\'t that dark though.\'

"Before... When we visited the Commander\'s Office… We stirred up that… Thing."

"Doing so may have made other creatures restless, which led to much conflict and problems for the survivors."

"Their overall situation wouldn\'t have changed, but there is a possibility they might\'ve been… A bit better."

"The people here are too much at the mercy of strong beasts like that one if it can even be called that, so when we stirred it up, they got tense."

"Hum… Did you ask them what that creature even was?"

\'I still have no idea what that was, from the way Testros reacted when he saw that as compared to the Wyvern, I have the impression its Level is more than just a few dozen above it.\'

\'Either that or his PTSD flared a bit, maybe both...\'

"I did ask, but he had no answer for me."

"Anyone that might\'ve had even the faintest idea of what that was is either long dead or those that might\'ve inherited what they know must be keeping their lips sealed… For fear or whatever, perhaps it\'s best if we forget about it for now."

"True."

\'What will it change if I know or not? Mayhaps at most I\'ll have the drive to go there and slay it, but that won\'t change anything... I may even just worsen things.\'

"Anyway, the Expedition team…"

"They left a few weeks ago, I can\'t tell exactly when that correlates to us but I would say it was around when those Outsiders arrived, either after or before but not by much."

should be evident when we\'re there."

17:25

"Thats… Quite coincidental." Dale added

"By following this path, we\'ll reach the area where they are supposed to be, I can\'t tell what it is, but it should be evident when we\'re there."

"Thats… Quite coincidental." Dale added

"It is, but there are absolutely zero connections to be made here… Moving on."

"They have… A plan to leave the forest."

"Most of the Survivors don\'t really know, or at the very least, they believe this plan to have been scraped as it was impossible to be accomplished."

"And in the past during a moment of severe crisis, they were forced to divert resources into themselves rather than in research..."

"But in truth, the Project was supposedly long done, the problem all originated from the appearance of that same creature we met in the Wall."

"It got in their way, preventing them from igniting the project into life..."

"Project Burnout, their hope of leaving the forest… At least with everyone."

"If we work together, saving the Expedition Team won\'t be a problem, and from there, they should have little to no difficulty leaving for Resko."

"They also left with their families and friends, a pretty large ground and the reason why the Survival camp felt so... Desolate."

"Those we met were the weak and solitary ones, together with the families that have no connections with the Expedition Group."

/Clench…/

"Albeit that is no excuse for abandoning their own, they do have their own concerns… So at most, I can call it even." Testros said as he ground his teeth and clenched his fist

"... What now then?"

"We\'ll find them and inquire on the progress of this Project of theirs, if it does work, we\'ll make it operable."

"We only need to move the survivors to the Karkavan city, from there on everything we\'ll be okay…"

It was hard to tell if Testros really believed that, or if he was forcing himself to.

"..."

\'He may not have said it... But he\'s being too optimistic.\'

\'What if... The members of the Expedition team... Do not wish to return?\'

\'What if... They wish to only move forward and abandon the rest?\'

\'Are we supposed to force them to do so? But if we do, only more problems will ruse further down the line.\'

\'We can\'t live with a group that might be half hostile to us and willing to abandon their own kin for the sake of survival, much less can I allow them to leave the premises of the South with whatever Project Burnout is.\'

\'If it can be moved, it could be some sort of Portal for all I know...\'

\'It may be selfish and I may have zero ownership of anything, but for the sake of the truth I\'m pursuing and the responsibilities I have decided to hold onto...\'

\'I\'ll have to be a bit forceful.\' He thought with a sharp gaze before he shook his head, calming down

"Cough... This dusty place... Anyway, what even is this Project?" Dale asked as he knocked on the wood around him, feeling its texture

\'It\'s a bit moist... Strange, I thought that given this tree\'s age and the time since its death, most of the wood would\'ve already dried completely.\'

\'Unless it still absorbs and transfers moisture around... But I guess a Tree this size would need to be this efficient to sustain itself.\'

\'Just look at the size of this hollow root, there was once a torrent of liquid moving around here like the pipes of a modern urban city...\'

"I\'m not entirely sure... These were the words he told me." Testros replied as he exhaled slightly

"That isn\'t motivating to hear." Dale replied with a helpless expression

"We\'ll figure it out once we\'re there won\'t we? Worse comes to worst we\'ll only need to make use of these underground root tunnels to get as close as possible before making the rest of the way above ground."

"Well... At least that sounds like a plan..."

\'I\'m just concerned about the time... And the safety of the people.\'

"Not that it\'s any better than just walking through the forest..." Dale added as he looked above where he saw a huge tunnel leading upwards

\'This place is a death trap for normal people like them, we were lucky we met close to nothing on our way here, but this won\'t remain.\'

\'I shouldn\'t expect it to.\'

"... Wait a minute, shouldn\'t this tunnel have broken into the surface?" He said as he raised an eyebrow

/Stop/

Testros stopped, looking above as well, sharpening his eyes.

Remember, the old man couldn\'t see in the dark very well, he needed potions to do so.

The little light this place had came from the shiny creatures all around, and that wasn\'t exactly a stable or strong source of lighting.

"Hum... Hard to say if it does, there\'s likely a small hill hiding it, or the tree tops are covering it as it\'s not unlikely for the roots to break into the surface ground."

"Either way, enough distractions, we have a long way to go and too little time on our hands."

"... Lead the way."

\'It took us an hour to get here... And it seems it\'ll take us a few hours to get there...\'

\'Right, I might as well and...\'

Silently, they continued down the woody tunnel.

And taking this moment of calmness as an opportunity, Dale opened his System Log.

It was time to know what he received from his \'fight\' against the Red Wyvern!

...

Notes

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