They continued their journey for three days. After fighting various monsters on the road, they were now walking on a trail. Along the way, they saw tall pines on the right and arge river on the left.


    Mona looked restless and continued walking around her master while Elise pressed her palm to her chest. She felt that difort again, even though she wasn’t using her dark powers right now.


    “The outfits you girls have are handy.” Henrik nced at the two women. He and his two friends were already wearing parkas to keep themselves warm, while Yua and Elise were still wearing their skimpy battle outfits. However, they still brought warm clothes just in case the temperature dropped.


    Yua shrugged. “But, maybe soon we should wear this parka. I’m already starting to shiver…. Elise, what happened to you?”


    Elise looked at her hands, which were now emitting thin white smoke. She also felt her body getting warmer instead of getting colder. Meanwhile, Mona was barking and jumping in all directions, clearly agitated.


    “Ah, it seems better for you to return to that ce before the forest, Elise.” Yua made a suggestion. “That’s better than something bad happening to you.”


    “It seems you have entered an area filled with holy aura, Elise,” Raymund added. “It means you’ll all be here soon.”


    “I agree with Yua.” Vilja came to the woman, then patted her on the shoulder. “It’s a shame, even though this is probably the toughest obstacle we will ever face. We may need you. But I also don’t want you to be harmed. You are already our friend. Thank you for your help.”_.


    Elise was about to argue, but she immediately realized that if she kept going, she might end up causing trouble for her friends. “Ah, good luck with your journey.”


    The others also said their goodbyes and then continued on their way.


    “Hope you don’t get tired of waiting for us.” The kunoichi blinked one eye.


    “Huh?” Vilja raised an eyebrow as Kaine sat next to Elise instead. “Come on, boy.”


    Marko chimed in with a grin. “Looks like he wants to take care of Elise and Mona.”


    The blue-haired wizard knelt by the dog and rubbed his head. “Well, I can’t argue with that if that’s what you want. I’m not your master, after all. So, take good care of them.”


    The dog gave a loud bark.


    ***


    “Strange, we haven’t found anything yet. No monsters, no animals.” Markomented after they had walked for one hour. “There should be obstacles before reaching the goal, right? We will get an object with a high holiness level, you know.”


    “I told you before, didn’t I? Some say reaching that ce is easy until we are close to it.” Vilja exined. “It is said that maybe there is something very dangerous there, which makes people unable to return. Only a few people survived, but no one wanted to exin what was there. The only information we have is that at the end of this journey, there is a sacred entity close to a god.”


    “This is interesting.” Raymund could not hide his enthusiasm. “I got really curious about what lies at the end of that ce.”


    “Did you feel it too?” Yua mumbled. “The longer it goes on, the calmer I feel. It was as if all my bad memories and troubles had gone.”


    “I feel it too.” Henrik sobbed. “I’ve never felt peace like this.”


    Then, the others also started to shed tears.


    “I want to stay here.” Marko wiped the clear liquid from his eyes.


    Vilja took a deep breath. “I might understand why it is rare for anyone to return from this ce.”


    “That’s…” Henrik stopped in his tracks, then pointed to an empty lot in the distance. There was someone in shabby clothes lying among the mounds of soil overgrown with weeds.


    “It’s…. A cemetery?” Yua raised an eyebrow, looking at the stones ced like tombstones on the mounds.


    Vilja’s group rushed to the man, whose face was so pale.


    “Are you okay?” Vilja knelt next to that man in a mage robe with soil stains. The thin man still looked young, probably the same age as Yua. “What happened?”


    “This is what happened when you didn’t want to leave this ce.” The man smiled, looking up at the sky instead of Vilja andpany. “There are very few sources of food here. We were hungry and sick, but it didn’t matter to us. You feel it too, right? That peace?”


    After saying that, the man closed his eyes, taking hisst breath.


    “Sir?” Vilja slightly shook the man, who seemed to be sleeping peacefully.


    “Looks like he just buried his friends.” Henrik looked at the two graves whose soil was still reddish.


    “I don’t know.” Yua wiped her tears again. “I find it kinda twisted, even though this ce is said to be a holy ce.”


    “The most important thing is that we don’t forget our goal.” Marko lowered his giant sword from his back. “We’re here to get those high-grade holy items, then perform rituals that can give us power. If any of you want to stay here, I’ll drag you back.”


    Vilja continued to check the man’s pulse, then shook her head at the others. “He’s gone.”


    “I will dig a grave for him.” Marko had already started digging with his giant sword. When Vilja came to him, he said, “No, Vilja. Don’t use your earth magic. You know, don’t you? Using magic to bury someone is disrespectful.”


    “Aah… You are right.” Vilja sighed. “I’m thinking of getting this over fast so we can get on with our journey.”


    ***


    After burying the man’s body, they continued their journey. In a rtively short time, they arrived at an area with light brown y soil, hardly overgrown with nts.


    “Beautiful.” Henrikments on the giantke reflecting the pine trees.


    “Looks like we’ve arrived at our destination.” Vilja took a deep breath of the fresh air. “Three records say that the center of this ce is ake, while the others are very contradictory and most likely fake….”


    Vilja andpany braced themselves when they saw a ripple over theke.