From afar, you could see that miles and miles of smoke and dust coated the lands so heavily that not even the eyes of an eagle could pierce it.
It looked like a desert, only just filled with pebbles and rubble.
This was caused by powerful battles between the factions of Earth and the factions of the otherworlders.
Even time itself had slightly changed by this new world, but, in around a day and a half, people were forced to get used to all this, and, it seemed that the mundanites, the once-ordinary humans of Earth who had little or no true combat experience compared to the others, were still adjusting as well as they could.
Although bullets, knives and even nukes could harm or kill those with access to Mana, eventually, you could see a vast difference between those who had Mana and those who didn't. Those who did have Mana referred to themselves as Goldenblood, even though most of them didn't truly have that golden blood, and this was proof of the authority they wielded, even with the simplest of Mana techniques.
Among the wastelands, the sound of knights marching cleared the eerie silence, and this brigade of knights wore full golden armour with lion garments.
Not even their faces were left uncovered. This was the famed March of the Steeled Lion Brigade, a righteous group of knights that served the Sky King, led by someone highly regarded as the holiest knight of all, the "Golden Gatekeeper of the Skies."
The two men in front who led these knights on his behalf did not hide their faces, however, with each of them having faces that radiated majesty.
One of them, their leader's right hand, had blonde hair and blue eyes that seemed to pierce hearts with cold, unfeeling reason, the other one, their leader's left hand, had black hair and green eyes, with a constant smirk on his face that was just begging for a fight.
However, the one who led them all was the most brilliant and upstanding. The Golden Gatekeeper of the Skies, Sir Arthur Court White, himself.
He was among the most righteous in the lands, with his glorious hair and eyes, both of them glistening and pale white, not only revealing his youthfulness and innocence but also revealing his sacredness.
"So, you say that the Crimson-Bladed King has already taken preparations to declare his new kingdom?" Sir Arthur asked.
"Yes, Sir Art." His right-hand man, Sirius, replied.
"In this region, multiple factions are plotting to go to war. I highly suspect there is something valuable enough here for them to all want to place their kingdoms around here."
"Bah! What value could this desert have?" His right-hand man, Cronus, replied, "I bet it's because all these factions have a grudge against the Crimson-Bladed King. I mean, even the Lesser King of Romance, a former concubine of his, is planning something here…"
Sir Arthur chuckled.
"You do have such a way with words, Cronus. But, I suspect that Sirius is right. After all, even the Brilliance Church of the God of Purity is here, and seemingly right ahead of us, at that."
Sir Arthur was correct. This small group of the Brilliance Church's priests, wearing white robes that signified absolute faith in the purest and most blameless divinity, had even brought alongside them a bishop, Bishop Raud, who was rather old and frail but could still support himself enough to walk.
"…Ah! Greetings!" Bishop Raud exclaimed, a wide smile on his face.
"What are the loyal knights of the Sky King doing around here? According to the gossip spread by priests, we imagined you would have expanded further east instead of west."
Sir Arthur shook his head.
"We have come to hunt down a runaway member of The Bewitched, who had escaped upon the dawning of the Horizon Soul. This particular figure is extremely dangerous, as he was once the majesty of a fallen noble bloodline. A fallen "Monarch", I suppose you would call him."
The Bishop and his priests all understood the situation and felt more at ease.
To further the relaxed atmosphere around them, the bishop wholeheartedly wanted to congratulate his total victory in the recent event in which he managed to thwart a demon summoning.
However, Bishop Raud only took a few steps closer and had a massive broadsword's blade tip pointed at him by Cronus, much to the major shock of the priests.
"S-sir Cronus!"
"W-why are you doing this, Sir??" The priests uttered in shock.
"…Keep in mind that you all are not yet trusted enough to approach the Golden Gatekeeper, Sir Art. Maintain such boundaries at all times with our righteous leader."
Bishop Raud faced Sir Arthur eye-to-eye before nodding and stepping back. Sir Arthur didn't seem to mind the bishop stepping closer, but he seemed to display an air of slight arrogance as the bishop stared through him.
"…Let us not quarrel in the place, bishop of the Brilliance Church. Instead, let us all feel more comfortable together." Sir Arthur said.
"After all, with a member of The Bewitched in the region, I suppose we'll have a common enemy to beat, right?"
Bishop Raud stared at him again, before he nodded.
"You are correct, indeed. Those daemon worshippers have gotten far braver in recent times. Even daring to hide in a former abandoned chapel of ours to perform their wicked ceremonial rituals."
"However, you must make sure that youthful brashness in your eyes doesn't get the better of you." Bishop Raud said as he slowly turned around.
"The Higher Faiths of The Bewitched will feed on negative emotions like that, after all."
…
"Urgh…!"
William struggled to get himself out of a small gap in the ground, a manmade exit that led out of the murky sewers. Similar to Brewer and Sarah, he was soaked in the miscellaneous, darkish-green substances that the sewers contained.
"Ugh… this is so…" Sarah muttered, peeking down at her clothes in disgust.
"Shh!" Brewer emitted.
They were now in a forest, one much more greener and grassier than Shepherd's Grove. Small animals littered the forest floor and the trees above, eyeing the sudden newcomers.
But, among the chirping and chattering of beasts, they could hear the sound of a larger one approaching.
"Hm… it's best if we hide. I'm not sure if similar creatures existed in your world, but that could be the sound of a Redfur Bear." Brewer said.
William and Sarah nodded, and they each hid behind a separate tree, careful not to make any noise.
Moments afterwards, a massive, red fur bear, with claws almost as long as paper straws, appeared from the trees, growling incessantly. However, a spear was embedded into its back, and it growled in pain.
It roamed around aimlessly as if it were lost or somehow extremely dazed before three arrows simultaneously struck its back, causing more and more blood to flow and it eventually fainted.
"Woah… it's dead…" William whispered.
Following that, a few hunters came out from the shadows. Two were equipped with crossbows and another one with a bow. Meanwhile, the leftmost one was empty-handed, and the last one carried a bloodied sword.
"Hah… finally, we'll have something to eat!" One of the hunters said.
"Yeah, it's been way too long, I haven't eaten since… everything happened, and since we'll have to save up our energy to enter the cave Dungeon, it's even more worthwhile to get a meal this big." Another one of the hunters said, licking her lips.
"By the time the Knights of Conquest expand all the way, the Dungeon will have already been cleared by us!"
They all laughed and helped drag the bear's corpse back to where they came from. To be honest, they all seemed quite ordinary, and unlike those from other worlds which William and Sarah had already met, they seemed similar to them. Brewer noticed this too and wondered how they already knew about the Dungeons.
"Hm… though, it wouldn't be such a bad idea for us to head into a Dungeon…" Brewer muttered
William glanced at him.
"What is a Dungeon, anyway?"
"…It's just a danger zone that's littered with monsters and creatures. The reason why they're called Dungeons is because they're mostly underground."
"Anyway, I think It'd be a great experience for you two to go into a Dungeon."
"Heck yeah!" William half-exclaimed.
"A Dungeon…? Monsters…? Well…" Sarah said, fiddling with her fingers.
"It'll be fine, trust me! You'll need this experience in the long run too, so don't be nervous." Brewer said before he got up.
"Yeah, come on! I'll protect you the whole time we're in there!" William said, slapping his chest.
Sarah giggled, and William, while also smiling, followed Brewer's lead to the group of hunters. Meanwhile, Sarah followed the two of them shortly after motivating herself.
"I got this, let's go!"