Waco’s sister died as a collateral damage during a war, years ago. Erol had his own bunker and members of his team and their families, if they could not fight in the war, were set to hide there.

However, for everyone’s safety, it had to be closed before the war began. No matter who was trying to get in beyond this point, even Erol himself, cannot be allowed inside.

This was Erol’s strict instruction, and he would not monitor it afterwards.

Waco’s sister was late to come over, arriving an hour after the war began. It so happened that leaks entered and passed over the area. The girl died right by the bunker’s door.

He thought that Waco understood this. But now he realized that he had always kept the blame and anger in his heart.

That said, while his dying too early was regretful because they couldn’t get information, Erol wasn’t planning on keeping him alive after an interrogation anyway. They were in the middle of nowhere and were not in a position to drag around a prisoner.

"I’m sorry for your loss," Garan said with that flat tone of his. Erol shook his head.

"Don’t apologize. I’m thankful," he said. "If you hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have known how I died."

"Do you have any idea who sent him?" he asked. Even if there was a personal vendetta involved, he could’ve made a move early on. Why wait now?

Not to mention, Erol vaguely remembered that those two siblings didn’t get along well. When she died, he didn’t seem to have been in despair at all.

Waco’s reasoning felt more like an excuse than anything.

Until the end, Waco was protecting someone else.

Erol didn’t speak. He was actually part of the third faction in Metteo Town—the one comprised of commoner talents—and was considered a small noble himself.

The other two factions had always been wary of them because they comprised a larger number of people, including commoners. They might be much weaker individually, but in terms of numbers, the other two had a smaller population combined.

Erol had always been a thorn to the other two sides, who had already gone through intermarriage in the past two generations. Another one was coming up soon, too.

It could be either of them. Judging by how his attitude was, this was a deep undercover that must’ve started since he began his ventures.

That thought was actually more painful than anything. Had he been fooled from the start?

Had the friend he trusted with his back been laughing at him all this time?

Another night descended on them, and this time, while they rested, Althea gave him some sweet wine. The others also got a taste, and Erol’s teammates finally understood how he could take this job for a small bottle of it.

As for the alcohol content, it was not high. The drink was light and wouldn’t make them inebriated at all, especially considering their levels.

"A little drink to soften one’s psyche," she said, and the rest of the group clinked their personal cups.

"Thank you," Erol said, voice a little raspy as if he had been crying. "It’s a bit embarrassing to be in this state when I’m with a client, but it’s an experience."

He tried to add levity to his own situation. His teammates were no less betrayed than him though, and some of them sniffled instead. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Maika looked at him and sighed.

"They made a move," she said, a bit of certainty in her voice. "This meant that there would be more coming when we get back."

Erol sighed and then looked at the most leisurely group of four at the side.

He had shown incompetence today. How could he get the face to ask them for help?

...

The wall entered their horizon mid-afternoon of the next day.

The wall itself was about a hundred meters long and ten meters high. It covered a pass between two natural mountains and mountain ranges.

The ancestors were quite intelligent to have used the natural terrain to make the delineation doable, but of course, the investment and effort on this hundred-meter wall were still immense.

Althea’s group separated from Erol and Maika’s about a kilometer away from the wall, settling down by a rock formation. Althea’s group would rest here and plan out their next move. Garan and Sinnan would also take this chance to survey the place on their own.

"Thank you," Althea said, generously giving a large bottle of her alcohol for each team. "Be careful on your way back.

"And...be careful of your Lord."

...

Garan and Sinnan surveyed the place and took a lot of videos with their cameras. Garan was also equipped with radiation detectors.

Their levels allowed them to easily go up the wall and have no worries about whatever dangerous substance they encountered. In the end, there was no ambient radiation at all, but there were certainly a lot of Undead on the other side of the wall.

From Sinnan’s description, when standing at a height, the sight was akin to a dense mob of ants.

Before entering, the group perused the wall itself first, with Althea studying the wall itself.

It was a joint effort hundreds of years ago, created by hundreds of earth and stone users. This had both advantages and disadvantages.

The advantage was that it was built fairly quickly because it was made of abilities. The disadvantage was that it was a bit crude, just literally a wall with some foundation. This wasn’t something that would last a long time.

This was why there had been missions for earth users to maintain them at the start, but after so long, it had gotten too costly.

Long-term stay also got people sick, so earth users were unwilling to stay for an extended amount of time (since they were exposed to Undead often), which meant the turnover was short, which also meant additional costs.

In time, people just forgot about it. It was only because people had a long lifespan that people even remembered there was a wall here at all.

A more permanent solution would’ve been to use more sophisticated construction techniques like ripraps and so on.

Althea didn’t consider taking on this project though. That wasn’t something in their scope; She didn’t think that Alterra’s claws were that far-reaching.

At least not yet.

It would greatly depend on what they could discover beyond this wall.