The atmosphere was tense and heavy, and no one in the room spoke until the door was opened.
It was Jake, who still miraculously had spiky hair. "Boss, Bart got news—" He paused and looked at the somber people who weren't speaking at all. "What… happened?"
Garan rubbed his temple. "What is it?"
Jake flinched, straightening up his back. "Bart...he's asking to see you."
The heavy atmosphere in the room did not dissipate, but it did put a pause in their useless overthinking and worries.
Garan took a moment to gather himself psychologically before standing up and following after Jake. "I was just getting back from my short mission when one of the Rolans pulled me over."
Garan nodded without speaking and allowed Jake to lead him to the Rolans' mercenary headquarters. They walked to one of their gathering rooms and saw that Bart was waiting with two men.
One was very tall and thin, and Jake imagined him to be like a human mantis. Beside him was a chubby man with balding hair.
And Bart, in his usual flabby self, looked a little serious this time. He pointed at the tall man first, and then to the man beside him.
"This here is Hoye and his right hand man Web. His team is based in Farrol Town, near the border." He paused, looking at Garan with an uncharacteristic grim expression.
"There's something that happened there the past few days that might interest you." He said, and then turned to look at the man beside him.
Hoye began speaking to Garan. "You must've heard of the beast tide that happened in different territories, right?"
Garan nodded, and Hoye continued speaking. "The investigators traced that all the beast originated from one area." He said, "And there seems to be some kind of changes in there that caused a great disturbance to the mobs around."
The Terrans looked at them in interest, waiting eagerly for the next information.
This time it was Bart that spoke up. "We're heading there to see. Are you going?"
They didn't even need to consider. Of course they would go.
Immediately, Garan turned to Jake and Gill, who straightened their spines by habit at his impending order. "Call the rest of the team. All of them."
They would all want to come.
After all, this was the closest they had been to home.
They arrived at the Ferrol Town a day later after rushing and without rest. This was the one of the few clues they got after so much searching and living at the minimum, no one could stomach staying in one place for so long.
After a short rest and restocking in the Town, they headed further inland.
At first, it was just an endless forest and an occasional mob—nothing special—until they eventually saw the curtain of clouds that seemed to extend from ground to the sky.
"What a weird fog." Bart mumbled, and they eventually got close to a small makeshift camp not far away.
It was composed of various mercenary teams trying to study this thing. There was also several military camps around this fog.
Everyone was trying to figure out how much danger it could pose to them.
Hoye walked to a group, which was apparently members of his mercenary team, "What did you discover so far? Has anyone gone inside?"
The men shook his head. "None of us could enter. Well, technically we can, it's just that we exit the same way a few seconds later. There had been no exceptions."
Garan frowned and looked up. It so happened that there were a few birds entering the cloud. He waited for the so-called exit, but he quickly realized the birds did not get out.
"But animals can enter?" He voiced out, everyone turned to him.
"I saw that the birds were unhindered."
This made everyone pause and think.
"Perhaps, there are rules…" Gill mumbled with narrowed eyes. Bart nodded and looked at his teammates as well as Hoye.
For the remainder of the day, the group experimented on the entry conditions.
Garan had entered himself, and it was indeed a bit evil. He entered, but a few steps and he was out back where he was.
His teammates did as well, but there was no change.
"Let's try some other creatures." Bart said, and he ordered a couple of his people to gather creatures and animals for testing.
As they waited, Garan's sharp cerulean eyes stared at the ground, and he turned his head to Gill. "Ask them to dig."
Gill blinked and, realizing what the captain might be trying to see, immediately moved and mobilized a few men to dig below the cloud. All earth elementalists were mobilized and soon a trench 20 meters deep was created.
But, without change, there was this cloud extending below it, as if liquid that was intent on blocking whatever passage they could think of.
Soon batches of different animal types and levels were carted in by the various mercenary teams.
While this was going on, Garan brought Gaudi somewhere to ask. "Was this familiar?"
Gaudi shook his head. "I cannot say. I have been so focused on surviving that these details went past us."
He was not lying. He knew there was a Protection Period because of the announcement and the fact that their surviving population halved as soon as it was over.
But he never knew how this 'protection' was implemented at all.
Garan sighed and continued watching as the investigation progressed.
Eventually, they found the rule.
"Only levels 3 and above are blocked." Bart looked around and pondered if there was someone who was level 3.
No luck, unsurprisingly.
Generally, level 3 would be kids on average. They couldn't send children to the unknown, right?
Hearing the blockage, the team (except Garan who just rubbed his forehead) looked at each other in dismay. This was the first time the soldiers got depressed for leveling up.
It was Gill who was actually the most rational. "This is a good thing, idiots."
They glared at him and he rolled his eyes, continuing his explanation. "If Terrans are really there, it means they won't be facing enemies above level 3."
This calmed down everyone's moods. After all, they could all have loved ones in there.
Garan didn't say anything for a while before heaving out a sigh.
After thinking a while, he placed another order. "We will set up base in Ferrol Town."
Knowing there was no use to stay here, everyone packed up, preparing to go back to a territory.
As they walked away, Garan couldn't help but pause and turn back to take another look. He stared deeply at the mysterious fog.
Althea, are you there?