First Legendary Dragon: Starting With The Limitless System-Chapter 52: Ruins of Old

"Haa... it was a prosperous city in its heyday. Now it’s just ruins." He shook his head and began walking toward the city.

The others looked at each other before following after him.

Orion, on the other hand, felt something different after arriving here. Initially, he thought he would feel repulsion or discomfort after coming here, but strangely, he felt none of that.

Instead, it felt to him the same as when he was on the way here or when he was at the city. His mind still remained calm like a still well. But he could now perceive Darkness more closely and clearly.

"Six Demon Generals attacked this place together with their unending army of lesser demons," Eldric said, walking toward the city gates.

All around, there was no sign of vegetation. Neither were there other treasure hunters or humans. All seemed to avoid this area on purpose as this place served no purpose other than making everyone uncomfortable.

The road was cracked all over the place, weapons lay on the ground—rusted and broken. Fiora looked at everything with slight fear, walking closer to Orion.

Rina’s lips twitched as she came to his other side, not wanting to miss out on this good stuff. While Orion didn’t focus on them, as he was trying to understand the Darkness element more thoroughly.

It corrupted the very core of other elements, nearly turning them into something else—something sinister.

"The king dispatched a lot of his manpower to finally push back the demon army, greatly weakening the kingdom’s vitality. But it was worth it in the end, as the surrounding kingdoms helped Thunderpeak remain stable," Selene lightly said, looking at the dark surroundings with sadness as they reached below the city gates.

"Was it due to the other races? Were they eyeing our kingdom?" Orion softly asked.

Eldric proudly nodded, feeling a little happy that his grandson caught this part so quickly.

While Fiora tilted her head. "Why, though? Aren’t Demons supposed to be the common enemy? Shouldn’t we first take care of them before fighting among ourselves?"

Selene gently pinched her cheek. "People are selfish, Fiora. Especially some races which are infamous for making a fortune during times of war, like the Goblin race. So you can never be too careful against outsiders. It was the surrounding Human Kingdoms and the Empire that helped this kingdom."

Fiora and Rina silently nodded their heads, once again remembering that no one was truly their own in this wild world.

Orion listened quietly to the history of this place. He saw dried blood all over, beast bones, and human remains scattered all around.

’Not even a proper burial... or are these the remains of Demons? There might be some humanoid in them,’ he thought, walking through the ruined city gates. Half of its structure was destroyed, while the other half was covered with battle marks and blood.

"It’s been a while since I came here, and every time I come, only bad memories surface in my mind," Eldric shook his head.

Orion finally turned his head to look at Eldric. "Have you participated in such wars before, Grandpa?"

Eldric solemnly nodded his head, not acting prideful or anything this time around. "I have fought more battles than I would like to tell. And every single one of them was a gruesome one. Except the single one where we had the help of Sir Dawn." A hint of respect appeared in Eldric’s gaze as he uttered the name.

"Dawn?" Orion tilted his head, curious.

Helena interrupted softly, "Tell him about Sir Dawn later. For now, he should look around here—to understand completely why Humans can never live in peace with Demons, as well as what Demons do with Humans."

Orion paused and nodded, walking at the front as they entered the city. Looking inside, all the buildings were destroyed, leaving rubble and shattered dreams all over.

He softly brushed his hand against the walls of a building, feeling the brownish bloodstains all over the wall. After such a long time, he couldn’t even tell if the blood was of Humans or Demons.

Fiora and Rina walked one step behind him, observing both him and the surroundings closely.

’Death... Destruction... Decay... Sadness... Is this all the Demons bring wherever they go?’ Orion quietly thought to himself, looking at the once-bustling city.

The roads were wide enough for multiple horse carriages to travel at once, yet such huge roads now seemed haunted with dried blood all over the place.

He continued to travel from one place to another, seeing the remains of families, couples, kids, pets, among others. His heart slowly grew cold as he finally felt what the Demons had done to this place.

Eldric, Selene, and Helena quietly followed behind him, letting him see and feel all that the city had to offer.

Soon after, Orion reached the central market, where large statues lay broken, shattered during the war.

"Who... are they?" he softly muttered.

"The city lord, Clan Masters, and those who made great achievements for this city. These statues are the highest honors given to those who made achievements here. But alas... not everything can be preserved from the indifferent hand of fate," Eldric said while looking at the statues.

Orion took a deep breath and continued moving forward, looking around the statues, finding nothing more than a few shattered weapons.

Fiora and Rina clenched their hands, their eyes welling up with tears as they imagined the horrors the people of this city had to go through back in the day.

The group moved toward the center of the city, where the City Lord’s Mansion was located. Yet looking from afar, they could see it was nothing more than a mountain of shattered rubble.

The Demons laid waste wherever they moved. It was no surprise that this entire city had been razed to the ground.

Orion stood still in the center of all this destruction, taking in all the death and destruction from his surroundings. He realized that he didn’t like this city as much as he thought in the beginning.

He might not be uncomfortable due to the Darkness Element here, but the tragic history of this place moved his heart.

Yet there was nothing he could do, for he knew he was far too weak. Too weak to do anything other than die pathetically.

’Demons...’ he murmured internally.

Rina looked toward the still body of Orion. Taking a deep breath, she took a step forward and grabbed his hand tightly. Orion didn’t say anything and quietly contemplated what had transpired here.

Eldric and the others left him to himself, letting him feel for himself what the real world was. They knew sheltering him would only be detrimental to his growth. And they didn’t want what happened with Lucian to happen with Orion as well.

After a while, Eldric slowly said, "You understood what I meant when I said Demons and Humans can’t live together? This is merely one of the smaller areas where the war affected. Those truly devastated regions are much, much worse than this."

"And the situation was dozens of times worse than what it seems right now." He exhaled an exhausted sigh.

Selene came beside him and placed her hand gently on his shoulder without saying a word.