Just then—
Knock... Knock...
"Mages, breakfast is ready. The village chief invites you to eat."
"Coming!"
Creak!
The door opened, and a very cute girl appeared at the entrance, making it impossible to imagine that she had transformed into such a terrifying demon last night.
The group followed the girl to the dining hall, where the village chief, Moka, was already waiting.
"Good morning, mages. You all look a bit pale. Is it because of the demons all around that you couldn't sleep?"
Lucy quickly waved her hands. "No, it's not like that."
Moka said, "Hahaha, it's alright. Don't just say mages, even we ourselves get startled when we see our demonic reflections in the mirror. What are your plans next? I can send villagers to help."
Lucy said, "We plan to investigate the island. Since this island was normal three years ago, something strange must have happened in these three years. Something on the island caused a change, turning the moon purple. Village chief, are there any suspicious places on this island?"
When Takeshi heard Lucy's words, a hint of appreciation flickered in his eyes. Three ordinary people are better than one wise man. With Happy, there were four of them, and discussing it all night naturally yielded some results.
"This... Speaking of suspicious places, there is one but..."
Natsu and the others' eyes immediately lit up.
"There really is? Where?!"
This concerned whether they could complete the S-Class Quest, and no important clue could be overlooked.
"It's in the mountains over there. There's a ruin, and three years ago, a purple pillar of light would appear there every night."
"Purple pillar of light? Isn't that very suspicious?"
Natsu and the others got excited when they heard this.
"You didn't go investigate?" Gray asked.
Since a purple pillar of light was discovered, they should have gone to investigate it.
Moka said, "This... To be honest, we tried to go to the ruins to investigate several times. Everyone took up weapons and set out, going countless times, but we just couldn't get close. We would walk towards the ruins, but unknowingly, we'd end up back at the village entrance. We couldn't get close to the ruins."
"Can't get close? What's going on?"
"I know it's hard to believe, but we really went several times, but no one could get close."
"A barrier?"
If others can't get close, then it's very likely that a barrier magic has been cast. Casting barrier magic on such a remote island is definitely very suspicious.
Natsu and the others exchanged glances, a hint of excitement flashing in their eyes. It seemed the problem was indeed at the ruins.
—
Soon, after eating their fill, the group headed towards the direction of the ruins the villagers had mentioned.
"As expected of an S-Class Quest, my whole body is boiling with excitement!" Natsu shouted excitedly.
"Aye!"
Gray said enthusiastically, "A barrier? Watch me freeze it solid."
Although Lucy also wanted to complete the S-Class Quest and get a promotion, her cautious nature still made her warn the others, "We should still be careful. After all, if the other party cast a barrier, they must have some unspeakable secret."
Gray asked, "Oh right, Takeshi, you don't know about the ruins, but can you still lift the curse?"
Takeshi said, "A curse is a curse. Lifting a curse doesn't necessarily require killing the caster."
"That's true."
Just then, a rumbling sound echoed through the forest. From the sound, one could tell that whatever it was, it was not small.
"Hmm?"
"What is it?"
Whoosh!
A giant rat, dozens of meters tall, shot out of the forest, wearing a ridiculous maid outfit that someone had put on it.
"A rat!"
"So big!"
The group was startled by the giant rat.
Just then, the giant rat's cheeks puffed out.
"It looks like it wants to spit something."
"Damn it!"
Ice Make: Ice Shield!
Gray spread his hands, creating an ice shield to block in front of everyone.
Poof!
A foul odor sprayed from the rat's mouth.
"Ugh!"
"So stinky!"
"Squeak! Squeak!"
The giant rat let out a piercing, mocking laugh, pleased with its prank.
"So stinky! Why is it so stinky?!"
Takeshi covered his nose, feeling like he was about to faint from the stench. In this life and the last, he had never smelled such a foul odor. Next to him, Natsu had already fainted from the smell.
"Natsu, you're so pathetic. Oh, right, your nose is too sensitive."
"Run!"
The group began to flee quickly, with the giant rat chasing behind them.
Lucy, while fleeing, said to Happy, "Happy, aren't you a cat? Go catch the rat!"
Happy retorted, "How is that possible?!"
He was a cat, but he didn't like catching rats at all. He only liked eating fish. And even if he did like catching rats, with a rat this big, it was hard to say who would catch whom.
"Takeshi, aren't you an S-Class Mage? Why are you running too?! Where's your domineering aura from last night?"
"I'm weak when I don't use Take Over Magic!"
If he had a sword in his hand, it would be fine, but without a sword and not using Take Over Magic, his combat power was very ordinary. The fact that he could fight Erza back and forth was entirely because Erza was going easy on him.
"Tch!"
Ice Bed!
Gray pressed his palms on the ground, and the ground immediately froze, turning into a smooth sheet of ice.
Boom!
The giant rat slipped and fell onto the ground.
"Nice work."
Lucy said, "Great, let's escape while we c—"
"Let's beat it up while we can."
Takeshi, Natsu, and Gray all said in unison, and the three of them started punching and kicking the giant rat.
After dealing with the giant rat, the group continued forward.
"It's the ruins!"
The group immediately knew they had reached their destination when they saw the ruins. Stepping into the ruins, they didn't feel any barrier blocking them.
Lucy wondered, "Huh? Didn't the villagers say they couldn't get in? Why can we get in?"
"I don't know, but it looks very broken here. Is this ground really sturdy?" Natsu stomped on the ground.
Takeshi advised, "Wait, don't stomp anymore. This place already looks unstable. If it breaks..."
Crack!
The ground shattered with a roar, and the group instantly lost their balance, falling downwards.
"You idiot!"
"Takeshi, you're such a jinx!"
"Can you blame me for this?!"
"Who would have thought there'd be a big hole in the ground!"
"Happy!"
"Aye!"
Happy immediately spread his wings.
Lucy grabbed Happy's hand, Takeshi grabbed Lucy's leg, then Gray, and finally Natsu.
The weight of four people pressed down on Happy, the little cat, whose face turned crimson.
Happy used all his strength to flap his wings.
"I can't do it."
Bang... Bang...
The group fell to the ground one after another.
Natsu immediately sat up and asked, "Hey, is everyone okay?"
Gray complained, "Damn it, why do you always act without thinking of the consequences?"
Lucy said, "I'm fine."
As soon as Lucy finished speaking, a muffled groan sounded from beneath her.
"I'm not."