Azimuth: The Elden Throne

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"A… A trap?!"

There was no need to describe how shaken Testros was, given how wide his eyes opened.

The weight of those words significantly altered his conception of what happened at the end, it added a whole new layer of thoughts he considered not possible.

Albeit, the more he thought about it, the more it made sense, the clues he had found out seemingly pointed out at it.

However, they could also be interpreted in many ways, and the simple possibility that the entire Wall had been sacrificed was simply too inconceivable.

But he had to accept it... He even respected the decision of the soldiers he and Dale met when they entered the Commander's Office.

Perhaps they knew what awaited them, following the Commander into a last stand.

Or maybe not, mayhaps the Commander lied to them just so they could fight with everything they had, despite the fact those cold hallways would be their tomb.

Given how capable the people of the Wall were, they must've known death was approaching from afar... But even then they were forced to retreat from their most advantageous position.

How big was the scale of that fight? How severe was the situation for the Commander to have chosen it?

And why did he decide to die together with the enemy?

Perhaps it was outside of his plans... Or maybe...

There was no point thinking about it too much, who would they ask to confirm their suspicions?

It would be too much to expect anyone of that would be alive...

"Cough, calm down... That was only what they told me…"

"What some survivors know may not correspond to reality..."

"Unfortunately, the few Humans I've met in the successive years were unable to explain to me the truth of the matter."

"Why and how... Those were never answered."

"Locking the Villages did manage to save us from the backlash of the Wall's fall... But it didn't help much when it came to learning about what happened afterward." Kuddan said as he let out a sigh

He turned to face Testros momentarily, adding:

"This may not be satisfactory or an answer to your questions, but as far as I'm aware, the survivors all gathered together somewhere further South, beyond the Last Battlefield."

But this made Dale scratch his head.

"Wait a bit, further South? If they were that far, wouldn't they just be directly on the Wall?" Dale asked as he scratched his head

"That would be true, however, you seem to have a misconception."

"The Southern Wall isn't completely horizontal, it bends and curves in many sections as it also has an end and a beginning."

"Some parts of it go further South, while other parts of it cut into the forest further North."

"From here, the closest point to the wall isn't necessarily South, but a bit to the East as well."

"Either way, everything points to the survivors having gathered around the Southmost point of the Wall, also known as the Old Trunk."

"It's directly SouthWest from here, and several times more distant than our closest point to the Wall in the SouthEast, albeit even that is a few days on foot."

Kuddan took a small rest to breathe and clear his throat before he continued.

"Unfortunately, due to the presence of the Last Fortification, ever since we lost a few comrades when they tried to cross it... We halted any efforts on trying to contact those on the other side."

"And the same could be said for them."

"They once sent a group to us many, many moons ago, but only one managed to arrive, and… Cough... Considering we never received any updates, it may be very likely he never went back." Kuddan said as he pointed forward

"We're in a situation where we may know they exist, but the contrary can't be said…"

"Before you, I considered sending Scouts to see if it would be possible to reach the other side, but after careful consideration, I decided to just head North as not only it was safer, but it was also closer."

They turned a corner on the streets, arriving at a beautiful plaza full of magnificent buildings.

"This is the Council Road, the place where most of the members of the Council and their Families live..."

"We're almost there, just a few more roads until we arrive…" <subtxt> . </subtxt>

...

/Step step step.../

"So... What is the Old Trunk and the Last Fortification?" Dale asked as he tried to break the silence once more

"The Old Trunk is the dead base of an Ancient Tree that goes by many names and Titles."

"It was already dead long before the Humans set the South in their eyes, and even in our long lost fables and myths, the Tree was also depicted as dead."

"Yet its base remained throughout time, its resilience commendable as a work of the Gods, and we, the Children the Forest have many tales to explain how it fell."

"The tree has great significance in our culture, and by now you all should've already seen some depictions of it like engravings and paintings scattered all around..."

"Children love to draw it, and if you ask them what a tree is, the first thing they'll do is draw the Old Trunk..."

With those words, Dale finally connected the Dots, turning to look at the images of a tree with a small obelisk on the side.

'I thought this was a random tree but I was wrong... It looks kind of a Banyan tree.'

(Image)

"Unfortunately, we can't quite tell if this is exactly how the Old Trunk looked when it was whole, as it had long since broken in half by the time even our earliest ancestors found out about it..."

"However, there are some depictions of its upper appearance in Ancient texts, as during that time the topmost section of the Old Trunk could still be found in the forest, albeit most of it has already been buried in the Forest floor..."

"Mayhaps if you were to take all of it away... Then its rough shape may be revealed..." Kuddan said with a slight chuckle

But as he said that, he suddenly remembered something.

"Hm! I almost forgot, but in those texts, there was also the depiction of an ancient group of Humans that lived near the tree."

"Humans?" Tina asked, very curious about this particular topic

"I can't quite say if it truly happened, but there was a single passage inscribed in stone that managed to survive all the disasters our tribe has ever faced."

"It was part of a poem that described these Humans' appearances... It's been a while since I read it but... If I were to translate it..."

"~Tree tops they live, within Cradles of wood they sing...~"

"~Follow along the waves of the wind, as their ears are shaped like leaves...~"

"Something like that."

"Hum... Interesting." Tina replied as she scratched her chin

"..."

But Dale's eyes were wide open, making him look exactly like Testros.

'No matter how much I think about it... He's talking about Elves... Right?'

'This is... Quite the news.'

'Even after three weeks have passed there have been zero sightings of any other intelligent Species within Azimuth other than the traditional Human.'

'There were many kinds of Humans such as the tribes living within the desert further North, the strong Barbarians of the West, and the sea folk of the East, but they're all Humans.'

'There are some exceptions like some Humanoid monsters that gather in Tribes, but those aren't really on the level of Civilizations like the Karkavan.'

'Living in cradles of wood... Near a giant tree... Ears shaped like leaves...'

'Isn't he just talking about Elves and isn't the tree just one of their Sacred Clan trees?'

'It's not this is unexpected, other species were indeed present in the other games, with the second one having the largest diversity...'

'So many found it strange there were none in a fantasy MMO...'

'But if there were really Elves here in the past... How long ago was that truly?'

'The current Empire was founded around 500 years ago after the old empire fell for undisclosed reasons, and the five Corps were created around 400+ years ago after the Emperor found out how chaotic things were following the establishment of this new Dynasty.'

'And finally, the Wall was completed about 300 years ago with the legend of the "first" Commander of the Southern Corps, the one that wielded Caladgolg.'

'That was also when the Empire started to restrain the Corp's growth.'

'So how long ago did these Elves truly die? Are they even the same species as the Elves from the other games?'

'Why did they vanish and what caused their Clan tree to die?'

'Though, with this... Wouldn't that mean I found two out of the three currently known species?'

After he gave everyone a few seconds to think, Kuddan continued:

"In the past, the first few that braved the forest eventually witnessed the Old Trunk's magnificence and decided to construct a base atop it, which eventually became the first outpost of the Southern Corps."

"The Wall was eventually constructed afterward by utilizing the hardened stone beneath the Trunk and its immortal wood was chopped, but until its completion, that place was used as a safe point by your kind..."

"And from the looks of it, they returned to it when everything collapsed."

"You could even call it fate." Kuddan said as he finished his line

He turned to Dale, as if expecting him to ask questions, perhaps he was rather fond of talking despite appearances...

"... Were there ever any conflicts between your King and the Southern Corps regarding their actions?" Dale asked once more due to curiosity

"You think too much young warrior."

"The Karkavan believe that everything is connected, from life… To death."

"The Ancient tree may have fallen, but its body served to spring new life and protect what was once under its shade."

"It is true that we used to view it as Holy and Sacred as we even performed many rituals in there, but it would be incorrect to believe we took it to heart when the Humans occupied it."

"Perhaps there were some dissatisfied with it, but the vast majority felt that it was only the natural coarse, as even we used its wood to build our homes and tools."

"This very cane I walk with and the very masks you see everywhere are all shaped with its wood known for never rotting, at least under normal circumstances..."

"You can find it everywhere, as that was the scale of its massive trunk, so it doesn't matter where we grab it from as long we can have access to it."

"Though our current condition does limit our area of operation since our days of wandering across the forest are long over…"

"And to answer your other question, the Last fortification was a temporary base constructed by the survivors to deal with whatever managed to escape the clutches of the Wall, and it succeeded in its purpose."

"It wasn't meant to work as a spring for them to counter-attack but most as a way to control the damage and the situation."

"Unfortunately, even after 100 years, many of its mechanisms and traps are scattered across the field, making traversal a matter of Luck and a bit of Skill."

"No to say that its location is directly near the sole Major structural damage the Wall suffered during the war, causing Demons to rush into the fields constantly."

"There are rumors that its fortifications still clash with those beasts daily, albeit I had always been doubtful of that."

"A few years is believable, a decade is a miracle, a century is a fairy tale…"

"But well, given what the Corps accomplished it may not be that far-fetched." Tina added with a slight smile as she looked at the Elder

"Ho! That is a fact, there is a reason why no one came to contact us after so long."

"Had them been any less capable, I'm afraid things would've been much worse than now…"

"If only… I had put a little more effort into preparing…"

"Why did no one ever tried to just... Go around it?" Dale asked as he scratched his head

"Because the depts of the forest aren't a place to be visited lightly..."

"If you wish to put in perspective, if you step within the Last Fortification, you may witness what will end your life..."

"But if you cross into the depths, then you may not even be able to be given that right."

"Regardless… We've arrived."

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Notes

(Image for the area)

If you can't see it, I would actually like to add the image, but Webnovel prevents me from accessing my own novel, at least the most recent chapters that are left for App users.

So it'll take me a while to actually post it, sorry.

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