Chapter 414: The Green Sea Ruins (Part 7)

Early the next morning, Wu Qingsong returned to the pit he had dug the day before.

After an entire night, the pit had collected quite a bit of water, though it was murky and filled with silt.

Still, it was better than continuing to suffer from thirst. Charlotte offered a handkerchief to help filter out the mud, and with that, the beastkin were finally able to quench their thirst.

One dogkin tried to cut down some shrubs deeper in the forest, but the result was the same. Any attempt to harm the forest was met with slow but relentless vines.

“It looks like we’ll have to figure out what happened here before we can get out,” Wu Qingsong said.

So the group began cautiously making their way into the ruins.

“There was definitely a major battle here,” Charlotte said. “But I can’t imagine what kind of force could’ve caused this kind of devastation. Magic?”

Wu Qingsong nodded. That was the only explanation.

“Maybe some kind of elemental spirit,” he added.

Charlotte hadn’t been present on Gale Island during the invasion by the sea-dragons, so she hadn’t seen the aftermath. But now that he thought about it, the damage to these ruins reminded him of that battle, specifically the clash between Ling’s giant robot and the water elemental. The difference was in scale. Gale Island’s battle was far smaller, and there hadn’t been many buildings there to begin with, so the consequences hadn’t been as dramatic.

“This place looks like it was struck by a burning meteor,” he said, pointing at a collapsed building.

Its surface was visibly scorched by fire. Even after years of exposure to wind and rain, the burn marks remained clear.

Yet whatever caused the destruction hadn’t remained—only a few irregular spherical craters were left on the ruined roof.

“Who do you think did this? The beastkin’s ancestors?” Charlotte couldn’t help but ask.

“Maybe,” Wu Qingsong replied.

“It’s hard to imagine we once possessed such overwhelming power.” Charlotte’s voice was tinged with emotion.

Wu Qingsong could tell she was once again thinking about the slain magic-blessed beastkin and likely her own origins. He hesitated, but didn’t attempt to comfort her.

“That house there,” he said, redirecting her attention, “was clearly smashed by something not much larger than a beastkin.”

The building he pointed to was relatively intact. He gestured for Charlotte to wait outside as he went in alone.

Following the hole left by whatever had crashed into it, he stepped inside. It was empty except for the decayed remains of organic matter. Maybe furniture once stood there, but time, rain, and bacteria had long since eaten it all away.

After confirming it was safe, he allowed Charlotte and the dogkin to come in.

“Classic elven architecture,” Charlotte said. “But clearly, the elves back then didn’t have the wealth or resources to obsess over every detail like they do now.”

The dogkin began to search the rooms they could still access, hoping to find something useful. But as Wu Qingsong had suspected, the elves probably hadn’t left in a panic. They’d likely taken anything of real value with them. What they did find were some intricately crafted objects, which, after wiping off the dust, still looked exquisite. These might fetch a good price on the antique market, but they weren’t what the group was really looking for.

“If you don’t want them, give them to me! I’ll take them!” the wolfman exclaimed, seeing everyone’s disappointed expressions.

He carefully wrapped the artifacts in straw and tucked them into his bag.

“Careful, or the dead around here might come for you,” Wu Qingsong said jokingly. He had no fondness for the wolfman.

The wolfman’s expression stiffened slightly, but he couldn’t bring himself to part with what could be valuable antiques. He clutched the bag tightly and said nothing.

“Keep searching the area,” Wu Qingsong instructed after leaving the building. “Don’t go past the temple ruins. I’ve roughly scouted this area; it should be safe, but just in case, take it slow.”

“What about you?” Charlotte asked.

“I’m going to check out the area behind the temples,” he said.

Around the lake formed by the powerful magic blast were the tallest buildings in the ruins. Many were clearly temples or sanctuaries, and they’d suffered the most damage. Some of the stone surfaces still bore deep gashes from unknown weapons.

After skirting a collapsed structure that couldn’t be entered, Wu Qingsong finally saw something familiar.

“Whoa…” he breathed.

It was a massive pile of shattered obsidian. But from the intact pieces, it was easy to tell it had once been a gigantic statue of the jackal god, almost identical to the one Wu Qingsong had seen deep within the temple of the dead in the Batiz Desert.

Had the Batiz people also taken part in this war?

Wu Qingsong stopped in front of the statue’s remains. Back when he’d encountered the guardian statue in the temple of death, he hadn’t yet mastered necromantic magic. But now, this ruined idol could serve as a perfect study subject.

If he couldn’t find the corpse of a powerful warrior, then learning how to create a massive holy statue like this might be the next best thing.

Thanks to the huge population and tens of thousands of worshipers, Nagrand’s Xuanyuan Church could now supply large quantities of soul stones—enough to support a modest army of sacred statues.

Most golems he knew of relied on a magic device or formation in the heart to power them. So he desperately wanted to move these fragments to study the heart structure of this statue.

There were descriptions in the Book of the Dead, of course, but some of the details were vague and hard to decipher.

Still, it wouldn’t be easy. These fragments were only small in comparison to the entire statue. On their own, they were all enormous boulders.

Wu Qingsong couldn’t help but sigh.

His magic was effective against living beings, but in this situation, it was utterly useless.

With his strength alone, trying to move these stones was a pipe dream.

Maybe he could rig a winch? Some pulleys? Ropes? Then drag them out bit by bit?

Luckily, Charlotte had brought people with her. If he had to do this all alone, it would’ve been a nightmare.

A winch and pulley system could also help shift those buildings crushed beneath the stones—surely no one would object to that suggestion?

Just as he was preparing to leave the area, something caught his eye—something wedged between the rubble.

“Oh shit.” He couldn’t help but mutter.