Chapter 513 (2/2)

Hank looked up and sighed. They felt it, as soon as they passed the invisible barrier; they had left the borderlands. Zone 32 lay sprawled before them.

It had taken much more time than Hank had expected, almost two weeks. It made the fact that the thorny house had appeared after two days all the more impressive. It turned out that the two Zones were on a direct line East/West from each other. Even though the entrance to the borderlands was to the Northeast portion of Zone 1, what you had to do was head Northeast, and then swing around to head Southeast, which took a bit of time for Hank's group to realize.

However, it made more sense when Alan reported to him that the Zones were slowly expanding. Perhaps soon, the entire portion of their East/West connection would be revealed. This prospect excited Alan, who already had plans to expand the manatech line to facilitate trade. Hank was more cautious.

They hadn't met anyone else form Zone 32, but that first group had left a powerful impression on him. Before they tied their fate too closely with this group of people, they needed to feel them out a bit.

”What is that?” Affina asked, her blind eyes turned forward, toward the new Zone.

Hank squinted. ”It looks like a fog bank in that valley. Can you feel the weather somehow? That's mighty impressive.”

”No, I cannot,” Affina said, shaking her head. ”But there is something... something special about that area that I can feel.”

”There is something inside that fog,” Laurel said, her voice quiet. Hank grunted. Ezekiel maintained his stoic silence. The group moved on, cautiously going to investigate the strange fog.

Hank was teetering between avoiding it and taking a closer look as they approached until the sounds of other people reached their ears. It was clear that within the fog, there was some sort of mining operation going on; the sound of yells and the clink of chisels was clearly audible. Hank's group exchanged a bemused glance, then walked into the misted area.

Even still, Hank was extremely cautious. They hadn't encountered them very often, but there were monsters that would use illusions to confuse a person. But Laurel had weapons to combat and recognize that, so Hank allowed them to proceed.

The mist was thin. It muffled sunlight but still allowed a person to see a good 15 meters in every direction. Everything was just... a bit cloudy.

”Look, there.” Ezekiel's voice cracked from disuse as he raised his hand and pointed. He had been surprisingly introspective since parting ways with his son, probably grappling with the cost of his Class in a new light after seeing his progeny. Hank had little sympathy for the man, but there was no denying it was a hard spot to be in.

Ezekiel pointed towards a large object in the mist. As one, the group circled it and approach. Only when within 10 meters was it obvious that it wasn't a stone, but instead a large block of ice. And only when you were right up next to it did it become obvious that there was a shadowy figure, frozen in the middle of it. Laurel raised her hand, conjuring a mage light to reveal a strange ape creature suspended in the ice.

It's eyes were narrowed in concentration, and the veins at its temple were throbbing with palpable anger. It was obvious that it had been frozen almost instantly before the reality of its situation could occur to the creature. Strangely, its body seemed almost... plantlike, with vines running naturally across its arms and merging into the thing's chest.

Everyone paused, wondering silently what had occurred here, leaving this monster stuck in this ice. But the sounds of the excavation were even louder now, so very soon the group tore themselves away from it and walked closer.

”Careful, this ain't our neck of the woods any longer,” Hank said quietly. He gave Ezekiel a long look. ”Best behavior, ya hear me?”

Ezekiel smirked, but Hank could only frown. Now was not the time to get into a spat with this quirky man.