Prelude to Collapse

A ragged group came down the mountain road.

It wasn't unusual. For the city's residents, it was a familiar sight.

Explorers returning from the labyrinth barely alive. That was an everyday occurrence.

If there was one thing that set this group apart from others, it would be that they were a veteran party who normally handled their explorations with composure.

"W-we made it～"

Shortly after passing through the gate, Lulu collapsed, leaning on her staff.

She gave no thought to the passersby she was inconveniencing. She didn't have that kind of composure left.

Following her lead, the other members also sat down or at least leaned against the walls of buildings along the roadside.

"Yeah, I really thought we were going to die this time."

Ria was the only one with a composed attitude, but her equipment was in tatters.

Her armor was gone, leaving only clothes. Even those had holes here and there, quite the sight for the men.

These were her spare clothes. Even her spares—this was the last set she had.

She could have made clothes with genesis magic, but the magical power needed for that was too precious when the other members were this exhausted.

She had been saving her magical power for emergencies, and this was the result.

Truly, it was a miracle that no one had died.

Serge, sprawled on Rudolph's back, was sleeping as if dead.

All of the warriors' armor had been deformed by acid and heat. The mages had used their magical power to the limit, then burned through their life force as well.

More than a month had already passed since the formation of the new Thunder's Fangs.

The initial trial period they had agreed upon was over, their roles were firmly established, and everyone had decided it was fine to continue as they were.

So they had tried to push just a little harder than before to measure their fighting strength, and this was the result.

The deepest floor Thunder's Fangs had reached on their own before this was the thirty-sixth. Their furthest point this time was the forty-ninth floor.

The King Hydra—the demon that Serge had Identified—was terrible.

The groups of Evil Spirit Knights were terrible.

The army of magical creatures was hell.

The Flame Giants were nothing short of nightmarish.

They had defeated all of them. They didn't run. They couldn't run.

After defeating the King Hydra, the monsters had attacked them on their route back.

"Come to think of it, the Dark Dragon might have been waiting beyond all that."

Shouldering Lulu, Ria spoke to Vargas.

"Indeed, given that strength, they might have been gatekeepers."

Utterly exhausted, Vargas replied while leaning his back against the wall.

The King Hydra had been strong. On par with the Cyclops, or perhaps even stronger.

If there was a demon stronger than that, it could only be something like a Dragon. Rather, could Dragons really be stronger than that?

"Has Cell ever fought a Dragon?"

Ria asked while lending her shoulder to help someone walk. With elves being long-lived, they would have had many experiences.

"Only Sub-Dragons. Never a genuine Dragon."

Ria had experience slaughtering Sub-Dragons too. Though she had nearly been crushed in the process.

(Even so…)

Ria thought. The town's atmosphere was strange. First of all, one of the city's leading parties had just returned in tatters. Shouldn't someone have called out to them?

There was little foot traffic. The streets that were normally filled with rugged men were clearly deserted.

Still, rest came first. Whatever had happened, they couldn't fight in their current state. Setting herself aside, it would take the others several days to recover.

"Alright everyone～, get up～. Let's go home～"

Endurance and magical power aside, she at least wanted to take a bath.

Moving like zombies, Ria and the others returned to the inn.

"Huh?"

She let out a strange noise. The inn was abnormally crowded.

The dining room on the first floor was completely packed. It was still before evening. Many of the guests were talking about something without eating.

Could they even be called guests in the first place?

She should ask what on earth had happened.

Could a Dragon have appeared nearby? If so, that would explain it.

Indeed, if that were the case, she could understand.

As she headed toward the inn's counter, Ria couldn't shake the feeling that her prediction might prove correct.

Her prediction was wrong.

Wrong in a bad way.

When she asked at the counter, the receptionist girl answered hesitatingly.

"It seems the Imperial Capital has disappeared."

"Huh? What?"

Ria couldn't help but let out a strange voice.

She didn't understand what that meant.

The Imperial Capital was the Imperial Capital. The capital of the Empire.

There was only one Empire on the Dragon Bone Continent. The Empire at the center of the continent, founded by Saint Emperor Ryuke Shifaka.

The Empire had no name. Having no name was itself proof that the Empire was one of a kind.

The Imperial Capital's population was approximately three million people. The center of all highways, of culture, of military affairs, and of magic.

And it had disappeared.

She couldn't understand.

Ria looked behind her. Her companions were watching her anxiously. Beyond them, the other guests looked similarly anxious.

They probably didn't want to go outside. They wanted to stay where other people were gathered.

She couldn't understand.

"For now…"

Ria turned around. She declared to her companions:

"Let's take a bath, eat, and sleep. But first, the bath!"

She declared it with a triumphant look.

While soaking in the bath, Ria thought.

The bath at this inn was meant for one person. Though she could squeeze in with Maal if they tried, this time neither of them had the energy to frolic around.

The Imperial Capital had disappeared, they said. Physically disappeared.

Physically. For example, something like a nuclear weapon.

Even so, she didn't think that was possible. Naturally, the Imperial Capital was protected by impregnable magical defenses. Using Casalia's royal castle's magical defenses as a reference, it probably wouldn't be destroyed even by nuclear weapons.

Had it been attacked by a Divine Dragon? That was hard to believe. In the first place, beneath the Imperial Capital slumbered the Golden Dragon, said to be the strongest Dragon alongside Dark Dragon Valis.

Then had the Golden Dragon destroyed the Imperial Capital from within?

Setting aside the reason, could that actually annihilate the Imperial Capital?

To begin with, no one knew just how powerful the Divine Dragons' attacks were. The Golden Dragon had a contract with the Saint Emperor and was supposed to be protecting the Imperial Capital. That was precisely why the Imperial Capital had never been overrun, even during the Millennia, and had served as humanity's stronghold.

That Imperial Capital had disappeared.

Where had the Golden Dragon gone?

In this Millennium, the Imperial Capital had disappeared?

There wasn't enough information. Not nearly enough.

Even if everyone else rested, she herself had recovered her magical power and endurance. She should gather information.

Even if they said it had disappeared, three million people had lived there. Among them should have been mages of Rufus's caliber. The imperial family should have been protected by incredible talismans. There had to be survivors.

She hadn't even asked who had brought this news in the first place, or how.

Ria rose from the bathtub and quickly dried herself off.

She produced clothes using genesis magic, changed quickly, and left the bathroom.

Maal and Lulu had already collapsed on their respective beds and were fast asleep. Sleep had taken priority over bathing.

Even at a time like this, Ria fastened only Kotetsu at her waist before leaving the room.

She went down the stairs and approached a table where an acquaintance sat.

While drinking the milk she had ordered, she listened to his story. However, she obtained almost none of the information she had hoped for.

Still, she learned that the news had been brought three days ago by a caravan from the Casalia region.

The caravan had obtained the information that the Imperial Capital had disappeared in Anaias, Casalia, and come here.

After that, several similar caravans had arrived, and though detailed information remained unknown, the disappearance of the Imperial Capital was being accepted as fact.

Was this actually true in the first place?

If Anaias was the source of the information, there was probably no mistake about its origin. There was a means of magical communication between the Royal Capital and the Imperial Capital.

When contact with the Imperial Capital was lost, they would have dispatched Dragon Knights to confirm what had happened. At the speed of wyverns, a round trip… no, if they brought a mage along to provide recovery, they would arrive at the site in no more than three days. From there, they would send word by magic.

After confirming the current situation at the Royal Palace, the information—whether rumor or not—wouldn't take long to reach the ears of sharp-eared merchants.

And considering the merchant network, while details might take time, the most critical parts would spread immediately.

… To learn the details, returning to Anaias would be best.

But what could she do even if she returned?

Ria pondered.

She thought about what she could do, what she should do.

While thinking on her bed, she fell asleep.

When she awoke, it was just before sunrise.

It was much later than she usually got up. She shouldn't have been tired, but perhaps she had needed the sleep mentally.

With Kotetsu in hand, she went out to the inn's garden. Drawing the katana smoothly from its sheath, the blade gleamed in the light of dawn.

She raised the katana overhead. In that stance, she simply remained still.

Unmoving.

Still unmoving.

Her heart beat. Her blood flowed. Her lungs moved.

The surrounding air moved.

The air that touched the katana was sliced through.

Even so, she remained unmoving.

She moved.

The blade stopped just before the ground.

"Alright!"

Her hesitation had been cut away as well.

Among the things she could do now, something only she could do.

Meet with Dark Dragon Valis. It all came back to that.

In the morning sun, Ria began carefully tracing her forms.