Chapter 409 - Warning

A few hours later, after the Silvaria's Special Forces had packed up all of their things, Cecil had everyone mobilize into the forest with all of their equipment.

The NWR's officers and soldiers saw this and couldn't help but wonder what they were doing. Their previous base had been taken down and now they were all moving.

"...Could they be trying to set up camp inside the forest?"

"How reckless! I guess that new commander of theirs is just a young fool with too much power! How could their people survive in the monster-ridden forest?"

"..."

Regardless of what the NWR's people were saying, Cecil had everyone march into the dangerous forest. None of the monsters that were supposed to be attacking them even tried to get close.

Silver was in his human form but he was releasing his authority as a Monster Sovereign all around him. He was establishing his authority as the new king in town, or the forest.

With how powerful he was, no B or A ranked monster even dared to come close to the Silvaria Special Forces group that was moving through the forest.

Once they arrived at the front of the ruins' entrance, Cecil ordered everyone to begin setting up camp.

They would now be officially taking over this place and would prevent anyone from entering into the ruins. He had been quite lenient before but his leniency had caused his family to be put into danger due to some other peoples' greed.

Of course, he wasn't going to blame them since it was in human nature to be greedy and the soldiers and researchers of the NWR wanted to develop their country by looking into the ruins and finding artifacts and tools that they could use to study about mana.

However, since he was going to take things into his own hands, he'd rather not have anyone interfering with his rescue mission. Cecil already made a plan that he would quickly explore the ruins and rescue his family before quickly heading back to his kingdom.

He'd do a more thorough exploration after his wife had given birth and he had already promised that he would come back quickly.

After everyone had finished establishing their new base, Cecil quickly gathered everyone around.

"Everyone gather around! Before I head into the ruins, I'll be giving you all a few new toys to try out."

Cecil waved his hand and multiple boxes came crashing down onto the ground. He had a few people quickly come over to open the boxes and begin distributing the equipment to everyone in the camp.

"Master...aren't these the new equipment that we have?" Medel asked after he took a look at the stuff inside of the boxes.

"Yes, since I want this operation to be finished without a hitch, I needed our people to be well-equipped. After all, we're going to be banning any other force from heading into the ruins. If we don't have a bigger fist than them, it'll only encourage those fools to continue trying to ride over our heads."

"..."

"I'll be heading in alone. You guys are in charge while I'm gone. There won't be any objections. You'll only hold me back inside the ruins." Cecil quickly added at the end of his sentence when he saw his disciples all ready to object.

"...Okay, Master..."

"Yes, Master."

Ian and Medel answered. Tyra looked very much reluctant but she couldn't object anyways so she quickly answered.

"As you wish, big brother..."

"Good. Just stay put okay? I'll save everyone as fast as I can so don't do anything reckless."

"Yes, big brother," Tyra replied with a clearly reluctant but helpless voice.

"What am I going to be doing, boss?" Silver asked from the side.

"You stay here as well. Guard the place against monsters and keep anyone from getting in or anything from getting out, alright?"

"Sure~"

"Prevent anyone from getting in, use force if necessary."

Cecil left behind those words before he walked towards the ruins entrance. Everyone was rather curious as to how he was going to open the doors, but they were surprised to see him pull out his Gun Sword.

Cecil gathered his mana around his sword and compressed it over the blade of his sword before swinging out furiously. There was no glorious explosion, only the sound of Cecil's blade waving through the air.

"W-will that even work?" Anise couldn't help but mumble in question.

It all happened in the blink of an eye and Cecil quickly sheathed his sword. The entrance seemed to have remained intact but once Cecil walked over and lightly kicked the stone door, it immediately started collapsing and the ruins were now wide open like it had been a few days ago.

"Remember, no one comes in," Cecil reminded before he walked into the ruins.

*****

A scout from the NWR had been following and observing the Silvaria's army that had now finished setting up their base. When he saw the entrance being forced open, he immediately went back to report to his superiors.

"Since the gates are opened, let's hurry up and send another team in," One officer said.

"Sir, the Silvaria army seems to be occupying the area around the entrance and it looks like they want to prevent anyone from gaining entrance into the ruins."

"Hmph, we already have an agreement. They'll give us way if we mention it. Hurry up and form the team and send them out," An NWR scientist said in a disgruntled tone.

They had lost their most brilliant mind just today so they weren't harboring any good feelings for the Silvaria army anymore. There wasn't any evidence about what caused the ruins to be sealed was even their fault so they justified the occurrence to be some sort of trap and it was just unfortunate that the Silvaria's forces lost their commander and a few children inside the ruins.

Alek, the commander of the NWR's forces, began pondering upon the new information the scout reported before saying, "...We should still be cautious. I'm not sure who that young brat from the Silvaria Kingdom was, but he's powerful and he did identify himself to be Gabriel Silvaria's younger brother. In other words, he's a prince of the kingdom."

"Prince? Hmph, that upstart kingdom was only lucky to get a head start in development. They also occupy a land of great resources! They're just lucky! Prince or whatever, he'll still have to give face to us since we've already established an agreement with their kingdom!"

"...We still need to take precautions...in case they attack us."

"If they attack then it's a direct violation of our agreement. We're then entitled to retaliate! You think our army would lose against theirs?"

The scout from earlier immediately raised his hand and said, "Sirs, I also have to add, that the Silvaria army is equipping themselves with the advanced equipment that we saw from the small team of their group that we encountered earlier."

"..."

"Matters not, if they attack us, we'll retaliate. They'll lose in number and since we have the justification to attack and wipe them out, we'll take the equipment and begin research and development on them."

"Our Sovereign Leader specifically said that we must maintain friendly relations with the Silvaria Kingdom! We can't do that!" Alek reminded in a stern tone.

"Let's say they attack us, which is highly likely since from the reports of our scouts say that they seemed poised for it, should we turn our other cheeks towards them and let them strike us?!"

"..."

"You may be the commander but remember that the Leader gave us some authority over the forces since what we need from the ruins is crucial to our nation's development and future!"

"...Do as you wish, but I will not comply if the situation is too dangerous for our soldiers to cope with! I won't send my brothers-in-arms to their deaths all for you petty scientists' ambitions!"

"Hmph!"

The NWR quickly rallied some of their men together and quickly began traversing into the forest. When they arrived at the Silvaria army's base camp, a few of the soldiers raised their magi-tech guns and pointed it at them before giving out a warning.

"Turn back! No one is allowed to get close to the ruins!"

"...We already have an agreement with the Silvaria Kingdom! You can't prevent us from going in!"

"This is your last warning. Turn back! We will use force if necessary!"

"And like I said, we have an agreement with your kingdom! You do not own this place!"

"Guns free! If they take another step forward, exterminate them with extreme prejudice! Don't forget that it's because of these bastards that our commander is now trapped inside of the ruins with his condition unknown!"

"Yes sir!"

The Silvaria soldiers quickly raised their guns and weapons and aimed them at the NWR's soldiers. Seeing the situation go south, the NWR's soldiers remained in place and did nothing. One of the officers stepped forward and tried to reason once more with the Silvaria kingdom's officer who was on scene but once he took a step closer to the base, the Silvaria soldiers immediately began firing at them.

"W-what the hell?!"

"Run! They're seriously trying to kill—"

"NO! Stephan!"

"GAH!"

It didn't take long before all of the NWR's soldiers were exterminated. The eyes of the Silvaria's soldiers were cold and unfeeling. They held no remorse in killing their fellow human as long as they were an enemy.

*****

Inside the ruins, Cecil was rushing through the place impatiently. He quickly arrived at the intersection and went down the left intersection where the worms and the artifact came from. When he arrived at the end, he quickly noticed the worms and the worms also noticed him.

The worms immediately began screeching and were about to lunge at him, but their screeches were cut short when a large Flash Cannon obliterated every single worm at the end of the corridor.

"...Ian reported that these worms multiply when they are split into pieces and it's just as I thought, they're Zombie Vermis, B-rank monsters that are potentially A-rank. I didn't teach Angie or Gabe Flash Cannon and they also don't have wide area spells so it's no wonder they were overwhelmed by this monster's multiply ability..."

Cecil looked around the corridor and quickly noticed the runic array that was inscribed on the wall at the end of the corridor and the crevice where the orb-shaped artifact was most likely excavated from.

"It's a teleportation formation. This orb should be the activation device...I'll come back to explore where this teleportation formation leads to, it's more important to find my family..."

Cecil turned around and quickly rushed back to the intersection and immediately spread his Mana Sense outwards.

"Hmmm, it's just like what Ian reported... This search may take a while. I'll have to do things as quickly as possible. Let's explore the top floors first before I go down the right corridor."

Cecil didn't know how deep this place was, but at least he knew that there was a top floor in this place since he didn't see the tower piercing high into the skies.

"At most, there are 50 floors. I'll just obliterate everything in my way while I search for them."