"When the time comes, Colin, you’ll charge forward with your Magic Greatsword, chop their Long Spears in half, and break their spear formation."

"I’d get skewered before I even had a chance to swing."

"We’ll have Pointy-Ears follow right behind you. When you get hurt, she’ll heal you with Divine Arts, just like with that Druid. Their Long Spears will be sprouting out of you, and hey, that still counts as breaking their spear formation!"

"Kase, I don’t think that’s... very wise."

"Next, Sheepy, you handle ranged support. Then we jump in and let the slaughter begin!"

"Why am I a part of this?"

And now, it was Kase’s fantasy time.

After rushing along for several miles, the Half-Orc, who had been bottling it up the entire way, finally started rambling, completely absorbed in his fantasy of leading them into battle against the Hobgoblin army.

It felt like a bad omen, listening to the Half-Orc’s suicide mission plans while on the move.

So far, to avoid being tracked by Wargs, the party had waded through several streams. On Salin’s advice, they had also smeared themselves with the juice of some unknown plant, while Kase and Salin did their best to erase any trace of their passage.

As for whether the Hobgoblins would find them, that was up to fate.

According to Salin, the Hobgoblins’ Warg Riders were their elite forces. If they caught up, the best you could hope for was a quick death.

But Kase and Salin were both professionals, so it should be fine.

Colin, who knew nothing about covering his tracks, chose to trust his companions and began to reflect on what he had seen and heard along their journey.

In addition to things like Giants and Cultists, the Hobgoblins in this region had started building castles around cities and preparing for war.

Honestly, Colin would have preferred to blame everything on his own bad luck, to believe that trouble simply erupted wherever he went.

But that clearly wasn’t the case.

Everything he’d seen on their journey indicated that the dark forces of this world were beginning to stir.

Although these monsters came from all over and seemingly had no connection to one another, Colin felt that none of this could be a coincidence.

It was like how animals sense an earthquake before it strikes.

And now, just before the arrival of some major event, the monsters were exhibiting abnormal behavior.

’As for what that major event might be, he had no clue.’

His rambling finished, Kase licked his lips, not quite satisfied. "Speaking of which, is there any chance we’ll be discovered?"

"My job is to make sure we don’t get found. Don’t take me for an amateur," Salin said. "The streams and herbs will mask our scent. I also have a good place for us to spend the night. The place you’re headed is a bit far; we won’t get there until tomorrow."

Colin nodded. "Alright."

"I was just sayin’, we could..."

Orelia said with resignation, "Kase, we definitely can’t take on an entire army of monsters."

"I wasn’t saying we had to..." Kase suddenly raised his hand. "Something’s coming!"

No sooner had he spoken than several gaunt figures appeared on the earthen slope ahead. It was already growing dark, making it hard to discern what was walking toward them, but a distant, rattling clatter reached their ears.

’Skeletons?’ Colin thought.

"Good ears," Salin remarked, drawing his Short Bow.

Kase sniffed. "I was one of the best back in my tribe."

Seeing this, the others also drew their weapons.

The Half-Sheepman and Kase drew their bows and nocked arrows, firing two shots at the silhouettes. With a clattering sound, the two figures they hit instantly fell apart, collapsing to the ground in a heap of pieces.

The remaining Skeletons slowly drew closer.

Colin carefully sized up these frail-looking opponents.

These Skeletons were just common humanoid skeletons, clutching crude weapons like rusty sickles and Hunting Knives. Aside from the numerous cracks, mud, and moss caking their bones, they looked like little more than animated models.

The rest of the group dispatched the other Skeletons with ranged attacks without moving from their spot.

’Perfect chance to see how this sword handles.’

With that thought in mind, Colin unslung his Elf Giant Sword and walked toward one of the Skeletons.

Its movements were surprisingly sluggish; it was like a walking target.

He gripped the sword with both hands and delivered a horizontal slash.

The Skeleton raised its Hunting Knife in an attempt to block, but with a sharp CLANG, the Elf Giant Sword cut the blade in two and shattered the entire Skeleton into a pile of fragments on the ground.

"Handles pretty well, huh?" Kase asked.

The others had already shattered the surrounding Skeletons. Colin shrugged and said, "It handles a little too well, actually. I barely felt a thing."

Kase kicked at the skeletal fragments on the ground. "Can you sell this stuff for money?"

"If you grind it into dust, a Necromancer might buy it. Of course, I’m guessing none of you know any Necromancers." After retrieving his Arrow, Salin gave a playful bow. "Shall we be on our way, my esteemed guests?"

Colin glanced at the remains on the ground.

’Come to think of it,’ Colin mused, ’we probably didn’t run into any Skeletons before because the Hobgoblins had already wiped them out. Seeing them now must be a good sign.’

’It proves we’re outside the Hobgoblins’ sphere of influence.’

The group hadn’t walked much farther when they saw a rock dozens of meters high.

The rock was wedged between two mounds of earth. On the rock was a fairly large, flat platform, connected to an adjacent mound by a drawbridge.

The Half-Sheepman led them across the drawbridge.

"Isn’t this spot a little too conspicuous?"

Salin shrugged. "There’s a well-hidden fissure up there. You can’t see it at all from a distance. This is a small camp used by those Horse Catchers. They’ve been able to use it for this long for a reason."

When they reached the platform, they found a fissure hidden in a clump of bushes, just wide enough for one person to pass through. The opening was so well-concealed it was almost impossible to find unless you were right on top of it.

Inside the fissure was a small, man-made chamber.

The inside was like a tomb, with small sleeping hollows and storage niches carved into the rock walls. Small objects like food and oil lamps rested in the niches.

Colin set his things down and relaxed his shoulders.

Finding a place like this to take shelter was a definite and pleasant surprise.

They ate their dry rations and passed the night with ease.

The next day, around noon, Colin glanced at his map while following the others up an earthen slope. "It should be somewhere around here," he said. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"Do you know what the place you’re going to looks like? For that matter, what kind of place are you even looking for?" Salin asked.

"It’s supposed to be an area paved with flagstones..."

As he spoke, the group crested the top of the hill before them.

Looking down from the hill, they saw a stone-paved platform that looked utterly out of place in the Endless Wilderness. The contents of the platform were exactly as Colin had seen them: all manner of enormous, shattered stone pillars and crumbling, ruined walls. The only difference was that there was no forest surrounding it.

And in the very center of this platform stood the statue of the gracefully dancing woman.