From their previous investigation, it was said that there had been multiple spikes of mana within this singular ruin. Whether or not that meant different queens were fighting over this spot or not, she'll know once she explores this place.

Right now, they were part of a temporary expedition force that was formed in order to investigate these ruins.

"Can I have your attention please!" A man shouted out as everyone's eyes turned towards him.

"My name is Yorm and as you can see, I'm not exactly 'human'. There are a few of you who might be unsettled by our presence but just know that we have a common goal of figuring out what's happening in this ruin. The government has already promised rewards that are equal to our participation but that is no excuse for any of us to turn against one another. I do hope that there will be no glory stealing and we behave like civilized people." Yorm said with a smile.

He was a relatively muscular man with fox-like ears protruding from the top of his head. His eyes were split in the centre rather than the rounded pupils that are seen in humans. Behind him was a singular red fox tail that would sway ever so slightly.

"Now, I've been assigned as the leader of the expedition force but just to make sure, is there anyone who is against this? We might as well sort our differences out here rather than in there where danger lurks around every corner." He called out as the members of the force shook their heads.

"Good. Now I'm going to give you one more briefing about the current situation for those that are still a little confused. 5 days ago, there were reports of a large amount of mana being emitted from this ruin which promptly disappeared in 5 hours. However, the next day, the same thing happened. This repeated everyday and each time it happened, it seems to be a different frequency so we're here to investigate the cause. Whether it be just a few people fighting each other or a mysterious phenomenon, we're here to find out the cause and report back. Unless there is a fork in the path, we'll mostly stick as a group. Naturally, we'll have scout based classes at the front, tanks/fighters in the mid with healers and mages at the back." Yorm instructed as people nodded their heads.

If they did things this way, their participation/contribution would be the same so the reward for everyone would be equal. That way, people wouldn't be fighting each other for glory, hindering their expedition.

Since Shiro was basically an all rounder, she decided to go as the healer. While her title may not activate since there were only 25 people in the current expedition force, making her Grace skill target only one person rather than everyone, she could still use her fire of life. Plus, she also had a myriad of support buffs that she could give to everyone.

Nan Tian decided to go fighter to protect Shiro, not that she needed it of course but he didn't want to take any chances. As for Yin, she was in the backlines with Shiro as a mage.

Overall, there were 5 scouts, 12 fighter/tanks, 3 mages and 2 healers not including Shiro, Yin and Nan Tian.

With the roles assigned to everyone, they started to make their way inside the ruin. Looking around, Shiro looked for any clues that may give her a hint such as any carvings or writings that may give her a hint.

While there wasn't any writing on the walls, there were a few carvings and images depicting battles much like the ones that she saw in her 'grave' where she recovered the first piece of Yin's artefact. However, the carvings did little to inform her of anything since they just looked like humans fighting against humans.

As for the architecture of this place, it reminded Shiro of mayan architecture that featured geometric patterns and carvings that look like faces from afar.

Progressing deeper into the ruin, Shiro had sent out a few of her drones to scout out the place without anyone knowing. In addition to this, every step she took, she would send out a pulse of mana so that she could mentally map out the ruins.

So far, she discovered that there were quite a few rooms within the ruin. Some were more pleasant than others while a few housed torture devices which was quite strange to Shiro. However, since she didn't know the origin of the ruin, there was a possibility that having torture rooms in these ruins were normal.

After walking for a while, they discovered a cross shaped path with three other doorways.

Thanks to her drones, she knew that all three doorways led to a different part of the ruin. The first doorway, the one to the left, brought them to what seemed to be an underground praying hall of sorts. There was a large open area with a giant statue in the centre and several pillars supporting the ceiling of this room.

In the second doorway, the one directly in front of them, it led to the torture rooms along with a corridor that led deep underground. Despite sending a few drones down there, they haven't reached the bottom yet which caused warning bells to ring in her mind.

Finally, the last doorway was one that led them to the resting chambers that were filled with what seemed to be small personal rooms.

"Hmm… there are three paths so we'll send the scouts to each path. Don't go too far since we don't know what's at the end, just get a rough idea before coming back. We'll act depending on what the scouts find." Yorm called out as no one had any objections.

While the scouts travelled through each of the paths, the main group sat down and rested for now. There were a few people who decided to backtrack a little to investigate the wall carving a little more and Yorm only warned them not to go too far.

As for Shiro, she scouted further into each of the pathways with her scouts.

She discovered that the first room housed a few secret areas that were too small to be classified as rooms while also too big to be called compartments. Within these areas, she could see faint signs of magic but it was hidden rather well.

'There seems to be signs showing that it's been recently tampered with so we'll probably find quite a few clues in the prayer room.' She thought to herself. Of course, she didn't forget to search further in the other rooms.

For her, the torture room looked pretty ordinary as whoever tampered with the prayer room must have just ignored the torture room as there were no signs of recent use. However, when she sent her drones to scout in the third room, they were taken out before she could even get a glimpse of what was in there.

Narrowing her eyes with a frown, she gently pressed her fingers against the walls and tried to map out that specific area with her mana. However, before it could reach that room, it was blocked by a barrier of sorts.

"What's wrong?" Nan Tian asked as he could see her serious face.

Gesturing to her phone, she sent him a message since she didn't want other people to hear her.

[Shiro: I found something rather… interesting? My drones were destroyed before I could get a proper look into the third pathway, the one on the right. It seems like something or someone is hiding in there. I also tried to use my mana to map out the area but a barrier blocked it.]

Reading the message, Nan Tian furrowed his eyebrows behind his mask.

[Nan Tian: That is rather concerning. Hmm… If Yorm decides to split the group up for each path, do you want to go to the third path and deal with this threat?]

[Shiro: Sure.]

Waiting for a few moments, the scouts started to return and reported their findings. Thankfully, it seemed like none of them had suffered from any injuries meaning each path was safe to some degree.

Listening to their reports, Yorm thought to himself for a brief moment before turning towards the rest of the party.

"I propose that we should continue to stay as a group. We'll use up more time but we'll be able to guarantee safety." Yorm said with a smile.

Once again, there were no objections and the group started to make their way to the first room.

###

Meanwhile, a pair of eyes looked up towards the walls. If there was nothing in the way, people would realise that it was directly looking towards them.

Cracking its neck, it licked its lips in eagerness before fading into the shadows.

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