Chp. 28 "...Why must we stay and suffer any more longer?"
"Matriarch Imlis… t-then why must the Oracle demand a level 1 impure body? Why can it not be us? *Sniffle*" the young orc princess sobbed in the embrace of her elder.
"That we do not know off, but even when we have tried every young child for centuries the oracle would not accept since children are very pure… but maybe we will find one outside, this is the only thing we can think off." The mature Dark elf said as she hugged the crying princess.
"Whattya yapping for lassie, are ya sick? Wanna let me check on ya?" an old wrinkly nasty looking goblin asked as he looked like a crazy person since his eyes were looking on opposite directions at the same time.
"N-no, thank you." Glasha looked at the wrinkly goblin and hesitated as she knew the infamy of this Shaman Pros Taytixum.
"Well, the gate is soon going to stabilize and we would have to march out as soon as the gates are opened enough to let the army pass through." A tall were wolf looking female with large pauldrons and a two handed mace said.
"Yes, but for now let us calm the troops first we will have a lot to tell you about the truth of our world." Urul said in a tired voice making the ones in the stage look towards the gloomy army and thus started to talk to them in turns to encourage them.
"Truth?" Glasha was silent as her father said those words.
Unbeknownst to them the small gap in the gate was enough for Marc to get in as he got curious towards the place where hundreds of beasts would pour out from.
"Ohh, this is cool…" Marc said looking around and saw the large army in the distance but his eyes looked toward the large tower with a purple orb floating above it that could be seen from afar.
"That looks important…" Marc then walked like he owned the place and passed around the large army without getting noticed.
[Fifteen Minutes earlier]
Marc looked at the gate in front of him and saw that it was slowly opening and that the five other creatures around him paused as they too felt tense since they knew that thousands of bugs would come swarming out that place.
"Hey, Papa Bear. Could you tell the others I will be going in first and that if possible not to let any of the ones that will go through the gate besides me go away?" Marc had been conversing with the beast thanks to the translator the Tyrant Bear.
Somehow the Bear did not mind as it had not used his ability to talk the common tongue when he is living here. So having something to talk to made it quit chatty so it translated for them.
Marc was then able to understand that they mostly knew what this even entails but they mostly do not encroach upon the territory of others since they too do not like others getting in their area.
But the Hill Turtle was smart enough to not drive out Marc when he brought four challenged foes in its territory. It was confident to survive the fight as it has pride in its very tough defense.
Eventually Marc was able to convince the five Strong beast lords that it is beneficial for the whole Peninsula to stop the invasion of the people coming out from the gates.
Sure it won't affect them directly but Marc explained them some stuff about the butterfly effect that if the lower ranked beast die in droves then the ones hunting them would not reproduce much for the next few years and the hunters of those would also be affected lastly them who would not be able to prey on smaller weaker beast.
He even explained to the Behemoth as well as the Hill Turtle that once smaller animals are gone then there would be lesser things that could propagate the seedlings of the trees thus preventing the spreading of new forest and plants.
It wasn't until he saw the gate opening enough for him to go inside that he told them that he would scout things out first and make sure to lessen the burden of the ones outside would face.
Even though the beast were smart they were very frank of their emotions so they admired Marc for his 'sacrifice' but in reality he was just totally curious.
"Ohh, this is cool…" Marc said looking around and saw the large army in the distance but his eyes looked toward the large tower with a purple orb floating above it that could be seen from afar.
"That looks important…" Marc then walked like he owned the place and passed around the large army without getting noticed.
Thankfully he had changed his armor set into the dull grey titanium set he made which was not so lustrous and was quiet faded in color that he blended right in the grey sands of the field where the Gate stood.
Marc took a long detour so he would not be noticed and it was then he found the first signs of civilizations inside the world beyond the gate. Years of his past training kicking in as he remembered the tropical forest of the Philippines when he tried to escape the chase from the Scout Rangers.
Or when he tried hiding from the infamous Drug Cartels in South America.
And when he also helped his former comrade on an off record mission that had him confront the dangerous deadly Gurkhas, which he barely escaped alive.
Marc smiled as the thrill of the battle field filled him again as he went inside fast and silent as he could. He might not be the best but he could boast that he could be considered top elite in infiltrating hard to reach places.
Marc took about thirty minutes reaching the high tower and there he could see that it was situated in a very steep cliff and beyond that cliff was a vast world where a thriving civilization could be seen.
Marc could now understand that the small towns he passed by were not towns but rather military installations. He looked over this wide land but something in the distance made him frown.
It was like near yet far as well from what he can see, he looked into it and could see that it was in reality very very far away but somehow it is kind of gnawing at the edge of this world.
"So this place might really be a dungeon, seeing that this large world seemed to have an edge… so does that mean that tower and the glowing rock is the dungeon core?" Marc had heard the various rumors from the maids and even from Lady Janice of what many scholars had deduced but no one were brave enough to trudge into the dangerous wildlands just to do research that might only happen once every 12 years.
Marc looked around and tried to find a way inside the tower and there he saw a small caravan seemingly going in to bring supplies. Seeing this Marc circled around to latch himself under a carriage of another caravan.
Thankfully the security was quite lax and the guards were rather talking about the Outland mission to find an owner the Holy Artifact would approve of.
But as he rolled out under the caravan when he was in, he found himself inside an alley or corner inside the large tower. Taking out a thin black cloak he covered himself and blended in the shadows.
He stayed a bit in the darkest corners and surveyed the area to find a way to go towards the floating core above.
And this time he was extra careful, a large structure like this that looks important means that there should be strict guards going towards the top floors but Marc spent the next twenty minutes sneaking around and no resistance whatsoever.
But just as he reach a top floor he paused as he noticed conversation inside the door at the corner. Yet it was this time that Marc was hit by a fact he had ignored when he was going in.
Sure he had heard other species talk around in their own language but mostly they use a language that was all so familiar towards him.
They talked in English, Marc was stunned in the corner when this realization hit him and he looked more serious than ever. Should this place be possibly connected to Earth then maybe he could go back to his past life of leisure.
But for now Marc shook those thoughts away as he heard the conversation inside the tower.
"I know that it is cruel to do this to our people but we have no choice in this matter, almost half of our home has been consumed by the Void from the past centuries and now there are telltale signs of the void speeding up its process!" The Dark elf Matriarch looked at the younger generation that had been complaining about the needless sacrifice of their people every 12 years.
"And how long are we going to try and try until all of us are dead? Why can't we all just march out and leave? We have very large numbers that could drive back the horrors outside so why must we stay and suffer any more longer?"