Rivet Town, a town that has been encroached upon by the Fragmentum. Countless Fragmentum creatures wander this town, and it also features a characteristic of the Fragmentum: Echoes exist here.
Fragmentum Echoes refer to records that have been preserved within the Fragmentum, which could be an image, a sound, or perhaps even a person?
While they might appear to be like normal beings, their time is forever stuck in the past.
A three-meter-high passage suddenly opened in Rivet Town.
"It seems the Fragmentum's encroachment couldn't erode the mark I left."
The mark here was left by Takatsuki when he last came to Rivet Town to find monsters. He had been worried that the so-called Fragmentum encroachment would cover up the mark of his power he left, just like in the Dungeon. Now it seemed he had worried too much.
Although he found that the power he left was indeed dissipating about ten percent faster than normal, it was completely different from the situation in the Dungeon.
"Takatsuki, can your abilities take you anywhere? You can even reach Rivet Town instantly?"
March 7th came out, looked at the dilapidated surroundings, and asked.
"No, it's because I've been here before and left a mark."
Takatsuki shook his head and looked at Big Seele: "Big Seele, I remember you said you used to live in Rivet Town. Could you please lead the way?"
"No problem, leave it to me. But I don't know where Clara went, so we'll have to search slowly."
Dan Heng said from the side, "If you don't have a target, you can go to the highest point in the town, a place where you can overlook the entire town."
"Highest what?"
Big Seele's ignorance made Dan Heng sigh: "It means the highest place in the town."
"Oh, that would be the orphanage. That's the highest place in town."
Following the direction Big Seele pointed, the group indeed saw a building built against a rock wall: "Then let's go there."
Takatsuki said after confirming that the place could overlook the entire Rivet Town. He wanted to use his ability to search for Clara's location but found that he hadn't memorized Clara's scent. There were also a large number of monster scents in Rivet Town, making it impossible to distinguish which one was Clara's.
"Bronya, what's wrong?"
Little Seele noticed that Bronya, who had been following everyone, seemed lost in thought.
"Ah… I'm fine, Seele. I just… feel like this place is a little familiar."
Bronya looked at the buildings in Rivet Town, lost in thought.
"Takatsuki, there are so many monsters here. Why don't you just fly us over?"
March 7th said, looking at the monsters wandering in the distance but not noticing them.
"That's not advisable. Many monsters in the Fragmentum can fly. If we encounter enemies in the air, it will be difficult for us to deal with them."
Dan Heng stopped March 7th's idea.
"We should just honestly walk on the ground and clear out the monsters in the town along the way."
"I also want to get a good look at the Underworld… and… I always have a strange sense of familiarity."
The group decided, with much discussion, to traverse Rivet Town on foot.
Big Seele was the only one familiar with Rivet Town, and she led the group along the streets.
"This was originally the market. It used to be very lively here."
"It's quite lively now too."
March 7th silently took out her longbow, looking at the Fragmentum monsters wandering in the market.
"I'll handle this. We still need to find someone, so there's no need to waste time."
Takatsuki reached out to stop March 7th's movement. Although the train crew's strength was not weak, it would still take a lot of time to deal with these monsters.
"Alright then."
Takatsuki nodded, and instantly, a large golden light curtain appeared in the sky, attracting the attention of all the monsters.
Then, a torrent of swords fell, instantly piercing, tearing, and making the Fragmentum monsters on the ground vanish into thin air.
Golden ripples appeared beneath the weapons that had pierced the ground, and the weapons, having completed their task, slowly sank into them, leaving only sword marks all over the ground.
"Wow… so amazing… can you really throw that many at once?"
Everyone present had seen Takatsuki pierce the giant claw summoned by Svarog with a sword before, but they never expected him to be able to summon so many at once.
"These are just simple thrown weapons, perfect for dealing with minor enemies."
After clearing the monsters, Big Seele walked into the market and rummaged through a box: "Everything's empty? Did Clara take them?"
"What are you looking for?"
Big Seele glanced at March 7th, who had walked over, and explained: "When the residents fled Rivet Town, many supplies couldn't be taken, so I planned to recover them. Now it seems someone might have already recovered them."
"Never mind, let's keep going."
The group continued forward and saw a restaurant with overturned tables and chairs. Seeing this, Bronya instinctively stopped.
"This is…"
"Oh, this used to be the best restaurant in Rivet Town. I remember when we were still at the orphanage, Natasha would occasionally take the obedient children here for an extra meal."
"Did you ever come?"
Big Seele gave Bronya a speechless look: "Do I look like that kind of well-behaved child?"
All the monsters along the way were cleared by Takatsuki, so the group basically reached the orphanage unimpeded. As just mentioned, the orphanage was built against a rock wall, requiring a long climb up stairs to reach it.
Upon reaching the top, the group saw that the orphanage, originally embedded in the mountain, had been sealed off by the Fragmentum's encroachment. Only the exterior still retained traces of the orphanage, such as slides and other play equipment for children.
"This…"
Bronya saw the slide and walked towards it, somewhat lost in thought. But at that moment, a huge monster suddenly sprang out from a corner and pounced towards her.
"Watch out!"
Big Seele's figure instantly transformed into a blue butterfly and appeared beside Bronya, pulling her back. At the same time, March 7th's arrow landed on the monster's body, but it didn't freeze it, seemingly because the monster itself was made entirely of ice. Meanwhile, Dan Heng and Stelle, one wielding a spear and the other a baseball bat, heavily struck the monster, forcing it back.
"Hmph hmph! We haven't had a chance to act all this way. This time, let us, the train crew, show off our strength."
March 7th smiled and drew an ice arrow, aiming it at the monster.
Stelle and Dan Heng stood on either side of the monster, like comrades who had fought together for a long time.
Dan Heng's spear seemed to have something special about it, though Takatsuki couldn't discern what. March 7th's bow was more ordinary; she seemed to possess the ability to create ice, and her arrows were made of that iridescent ice.
As for Stelle's weapon, it was simple and crude: a metal baseball bat. However, this ordinary bat was enveloped in a layer of energy, transforming it from a common bat into a weapon capable of fighting monsters.
On the other side, Big Seele seemed to be talking to Bronya, leaving the monster entirely to the train crew to deal with.