Under the thick black fog, a majestic ancient city appeared before their eyes.

It was situated in a hollow, surrounded by the Sword Edge Mountain Range.

Numerous gigantic stone sword edges pointed downward towards it, looking rather eerie.

Liszt exclaimed: "This is a Divine City!"

Divine Cities were cities where gods lived during the Ancient Epoch, akin to the Fire King City of the Fire Epoch and Dark Epoch. Its central Divine Tower equated to the Holy Fire Sacrificial Ground.

This Divine City was larger than the Sagus Ancient City, and the architectural style was entirely different.

Even the iconic Divine Tower, covered by the black fog and surrounded by numerous buildings, was difficult to identify.

"Liszt recognized it as a Divine City at a glance; the Investigation Legion members indeed have a rich knowledge base."

Rod thought to himself, and upon looking around, realized the black fog had thinned. Dense black fog gathered around the ancient city, extending toward the northeast, forming a Black Fog Wall connecting the heavens and earth.

"What is this? The black fog… seems to have formed some kind of barrier?"

Liszt pondered for a moment: "This appears to be some special phenomenon. The black fog is being attracted here, gathering in mass, expanding with the ancient city as its axis, like a long wall resisting invasion."

Number 7 suddenly realized: "I understand now why we've never found other Fire King Cities—because of this Black Fog Wall! It isolates the natural distribution of black fog, making it difficult for us to discover traces on the other side about the existence of Holy Fire."

The Holy Fire of extremely high strength can dispel black fog over a vast area, affecting the distribution within thousands of kilometers.

Its indirect influence usually exceeds the direct impact by tenfold or more.

Taking the Trolian Royal City as an example, even when moving over a thousand kilometers away from the Royal City's Holy Fire, unnatural changes in black fog density stratification can still be noticed.

"Have you noticed?"

Number 9 also spoke.

"These monsters with extremely strong perception seem to be distributed in the Sword Edge Mountain Range, centered around this unknown Divine City."

Rod nodded, having the same feeling.

"I have a guess that they are guarding this ancient city."

Liszt nodded: "Perhaps some secrets are hidden within the ancient city."

Number 19 asked: "Sir Number 1, can we bypass the ancient city?"

Liszt shook his head: "I fear it's not possible. You see that Black Fog Wall, its concentration has reached the level of Third Derivation. Neither the Red Tear Stone, residual light nor Residual Fire can resist its erosion. If we force our way through, we will suffer severe corruption."

Rod frowned, knowing that the black fog they encountered was merely derivatives of the true black fog.

The true black fog, capable of corrupting even gods, is the Source Black Fog. After its first derivation through dissolution, it forms Black Water, known as the "Primordial" of the Source Black Fog.

The secondary black fog formed from further derivation of Black Water is the "Second Derivation," and this process continues until it blankets the world.

After the "Third Derivation," the black fog lacks specific characteristics, distinguished only by concentration.

Most people encounter merely the thin mist formed from countless derivations through dissolution by Source Black Fog.

However, even such black fog is lethal to humans.

When the black fog reaches the level of "Third Derivation," only Guardian Fire can dispel it, as all other creations of fire cannot provide effective protection.

Liszt did not bring the Guardian Fire for this expedition.

Traveling in the Dark World, it's impossible to carry fire; doing so is extremely dangerous and may result in losing precious Fire Spark in the darkness.

Rod gazed ahead; the Black Fog Wall was at least 500 yards high.

In the Dark World, anything above 500 yards is designated as forbidden airspace, and intruding could lead to encounters with unspeakable horrors.

Circumventing the Black Fog Wall is extremely difficult. It likely won't be short, possibly requiring carving a long new path that cannot be completed in a day or two.

Number 7 shook his large beard, cautiously asking: "Sir Number 1, should we attempt to enter the ancient city?"

Number 9 retorted: "Can we even go in?"

Number 7 explained: "Look carefully, the Black Fog Wall hasn't invaded the ancient city but rather falls along its surface. Though the black fog concentration within the ancient city is high, it hasn't reached the level of Third Derivation."

Rod looked intently, indeed finding the deep Black Fog Wall as described, not engulfing the ancient city but only submerging its top portion.

However, Liszt did not agree immediately. As per Investigation Legion principles, when encountering incomprehensible and extremely dangerous situations, the investigative team usually chooses to return along the original route, avoiding risks.

Number 9 worriedly said: "We should return; this is an unexpected situation; we are not adequately prepared."

This was the most prudent approach, but number 19 strongly opposed: "We have arrived here with much difficulty. Perhaps after crossing the ancient city, we might see traces of the black fog being dispelled and weakened by Holy Fire!"

"But it's too dangerous! Exploring ancient Divine Cities requires assembling the highest standard combat group; we only have one Special Level Combatant!"

"No." Number 7 suddenly said: "This Divine City might very well be abandoned already."

"How do you know?"

"Think about Sagus Ancient City, what was its state when we first discovered it? Dense black fog, domain wells twisted by strong spiritual energy warped space, black fog gathered around, forming a Black Domain, but this ancient city has none of that, quiet to the point of fear."

"But that can't conclude anything; look at the highly perceptive monsters around, see this unprecedented Black Fog Wall…"

"Number 7 is right."

Liszt suddenly spoke.

"I've already confirmed there is no King Level presence within this ancient city."

Rod's heart trembled; indeed the commander of the Investigation Legion, with such special reconnaissance abilities, had initially completed the preliminary exploration of Starry Sky City.

"But..." Number 9 still wanted to say something, but suddenly realized that the surrounding monsters were converging on them.

Their retreat had unknowingly been cut off.

Not only that, all the monsters in the area had started moving toward them.

"It seems we have alarmed these monsters, they might be a collective entity."

Liszt smiled slightly, not appearing tense.

"We only have the path into the Ancient City left; battling with so many monsters would be too loud for the Silence Bell to cover."

"Let's hurry."

Liszt took the lead, striding forward.

Rod followed behind, feeling slightly nervous but mostly excited at facing the unknown; as long as there were no King Level Monsters, he felt no threat.

After killing three alerting monsters, they arrived beneath the Ancient City.

From this angle, the Black Fog Wall appeared even more towering, making the massive Ancient City seem small in comparison.

Liszt quickly found a breach in the high city wall, and the team stepped into the Ancient City through the gap.

Upon crossing into the Ancient City, Rod felt as though they had entered a new space, the monsters pressing in from outside were no longer perceivable.

Looking around, the black fog inside the Ancient City was far dimmer than imagined, and almost all the buildings were square, of varying sizes, stacked everywhere like a city built from blocks.

Yet most were intact, showing no signs of battle.

Thick dust covered every street and building, the air carrying an indescribable sense of decay, as if this unknown Divine City was frozen out of time.

Liszt closed his eyes, placing his hands on the ground to use his characteristic ability to explore the Ancient City.

Moments later, he opened his eyes and said with some confusion, "There hasn't been any suspicious spiritual energy fluctuations."

They moved forward and began their search, but found nothing of value or otherwise; all the buildings were empty, some even had their main doors pried away.

Nor did they encounter any monsters.

They explored several areas, all the same.

Rod asked in confusion, "Is this an empty city?"

Liszt wasn't surprised, "That's possible."

"Number 0, you must know that the Divine City has existed since the Ancient Epoch, an era when gods were active, and only afterward did the Fire Epoch of mankind's activity come; during humanity's prosperous times, how could these ancient relics not be thoroughly scavenged?"

Rod suddenly understood and asked, "Then why wasn't the Sagus Ancient City scavenged?"

"Because it's too far; during the Fire Epoch, humanity was mainly active on another continent. Our Gray Soil Continent is extremely remote, seldom visited."

"Our earliest hero, Trolian, only brought the Holy Fire Seed here to escape disaster."

"Sagus Ancient City lies several thousand miles west of us, and though humanity was strong then, they might not have found their way to such a remote area, leaving it for us."

Rod felt reassured yet regretful; the lack of danger meant no gains.

But he suddenly thought, "Then why do the Black Fog Wall and warning monsters still exist?"

Liszt mused, "It might be some special facility of the Ancient City, immovable, like the Star Chart of Starry Sky City; it's harmless and even beneficial to humans, so hasn't been destroyed or plundered."

Number 7 said, "If we find it, perhaps we can find a way through the Black Fog's strength."

This conjecture was agreed upon by everyone.

But Liszt meticulously scoured over half the Ancient City, still finding nothing.

This thoroughly proved his suspicion.

Thus, their gaze turned to the Divine Tower at the center of the Ancient City.

All secrets could only be found within it.

Though called a tower, it resembled a massive square fortress.

No city gate, no entrance, with the fortress' exterior enveloped in thick black fog, the densest part of the city.

Rod immediately had a bad feeling.

Soon, this feeling was confirmed—Liszt found the entrance to the sewer.

"Number 0, we'll go in from here; it's your specialty..."

"Enough! No need to say anymore."

Rod interrupted.

"We'll enter from here, but I have nothing to do with sewers."

Liszt gave him a puzzled look, not understanding why the famous 'King of the Sewer' would say such a thing.

After replacing the Red Tear Stone, they entered the sewer.

The complex sewer system quickly disoriented them, but under Rod's guidance, they smoothly entered the basement of the Divine Tower.

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