Dimensional Keeper: All My Skills Are at Level 100

Chapter 1541  Terrifying Orion!

A few minutes passed in a strange, subdued atmosphere as the tension from earlier slowly dissolved into quiet preparation.

The groups that had gathered in the garage began to move one after another, their departure orderly yet cautious, as if each of them understood that the moment they stepped out of the camp, they would be entering a world where survival was never guaranteed.

Max watched them carefully.

There was no unnecessary chatter now.

No wasted movement.

Every group moved with purpose.

Seeing this, Max understood that it was time for them to leave as well.

He turned his gaze toward Lucia and studied her expression for a brief moment. The earlier disturbance had clearly shaken her, but now she seemed to have regained her composure. The unease in her eyes had faded, replaced once again by the calm and focused demeanor he had seen before.

Max felt a quiet sense of relief.

"Let us go," Rose said as she stepped forward, naturally taking the lead.

Lucia moved alongside her, with Max and Isabella following just behind. Slightly to the side, the other group that Rose had agreed to guide also fell into formation. Without any formal signal, the two groups aligned themselves and began moving as one.

Together, they left the garage.

Step by step, they made their way toward the exit of the southern camp.

As they walked, Max observed everything around him. The camp gradually thinned out as they approached the boundary, the structures becoming sparse, the presence of cultivators decreasing, and the atmosphere shifting into something far more uncertain. Beyond the camp lay Orion in its true form.

Just before they reached the exit, Max noticed something that did not quite make sense to him.

"If thousands of people are heading toward the same destination," he said, his tone thoughtful, "then why do you guides not gather together and lead everyone at once? Would that not make things much safer? A larger group should be stronger."

Rose slowed her steps.

Then she stopped completely.

She turned her head and looked at Max, her expression carrying a faint smile that seemed to hold both amusement and something deeper.

"If only it were that simple," she said.

Max frowned slightly, waiting for her explanation.

Rose continued, her voice steady as she spoke from experience rather than theory. "A guide can only lead a group of up to ten people. That is the rule on Orion. No guide here dares to break it."

Max's frown deepened. "Why?"

Rose's smile remained, but her eyes turned more serious.

"It is just how things are here," she said. "Orion is not like other places. When too many people gather in one place, it draws attention."

She paused for a moment, letting her words settle before continuing.

"Not the kind of attention you want."

Her tone grew heavier as she spoke of the past. "A long time ago, before this rule existed, guides used to lead large groups. Sometimes a hundred people or more would travel together, believing that strength in numbers would guarantee their safety."

Max listened silently.

"One such group left," Rose said slowly. "A large group full of strong and experienced people."

She looked ahead, her gaze distant as if recalling something she had heard many times.

"And none of them came back."

The air seemed to grow colder as she continued.

"Not a single one," she said. "Not the people. Not the guides. No one. They simply disappeared."

Max's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Nobody knows what happened to them," Rose added. "There were no traces. No signs of battle. No remains. It was as if they had been erased."

A brief silence followed.

"After that," she continued, "the rule was established. No group should exceed ten people. Ever since then, everyone has followed it without exception."

She turned to look at Max again.

"And since then, incidents like that have almost never happened again."

Max absorbed her words quietly.

The logic was simple.

But the implication was terrifying.

'What had happened to this place to make it so terrifying.' Max thought deeply. He knew a long time ago a war had taken place in this place. A war so terrifying a true black dragon had fallen here. Max could hardly imagine a power capable of killing a true dragon.

"We are far enough from the other groups now," Rose's voice broke through his thoughts.

Max turned his gaze toward her.

She had stopped briefly to observe their surroundings, her expression focused as she measured their position relative to the others. The groups that had left before them were now distant figures ahead, barely visible against the vast and broken landscape.

"It is time to move properly," she said.

Without waiting for a response, Rose stepped forward and increased her pace, her movements becoming sharper and more deliberate as she began guiding them into the deeper regions of Orion.

Lucia followed closely.

Max and Isabella moved right behind her.

Behind them, the camp slowly faded into the distance.

The moment they stepped beyond the boundaries of the southern camp, the world changed.

Inside the camp, even with its tension and constant alertness, there had been a sense of order. There were structures, people, and a rhythm that one could understand. Outside the camp, all of that disappeared.

What replaced it was something far more primal.

The ground itself looked wrong.

It was not simply barren or lifeless. It felt as though it had been torn apart and then left to decay for countless years. The soil carried a dark red hue, not the natural red of minerals but something deeper, something that hinted at blood long dried into the very foundation of the land.

Cracks spread across the surface in chaotic patterns, some shallow, some deep enough to swallow a person whole, as if the planet itself had once been split open under unimaginable force.

The air was heavy.

Each breath felt thicker, harder to draw, as though the atmosphere itself resisted their presence. There was a faint metallic scent mixed with something ancient and decayed, a lingering trace that refused to fade even after thousands of years.

Max's eyes moved across the horizon.

Ruins lay scattered everywhere.

Not the kind built by time or erosion, but the kind left behind by destruction. Broken weapons half buried in the ground, massive fragments of unknown constructs, shattered pillars that once might have belonged to grand structures, all of them scattered without order as if they had been thrown aside during a chaotic battle.

Some pieces still carried faint energy fluctuations, remnants of power that had not completely dissipated.

In the distance, the land was uneven, rising and falling in unnatural ways. Entire sections looked as if they had been melted and then solidified again, while others were carved out into deep trenches that stretched far beyond what the eye could see. There were no signs of life in these areas. No plants. No movement.

Only silence.

A suffocating silence.

Max felt it clearly.

This was not just a dangerous place.

This was a graveyard.

A battlefield where something unimaginable had taken place.

'What happened here… to make it like this?'

The thought rose in his mind as he looked at the devastation surrounding them. He knew that a war had once taken place on Orion. He had heard that much already. But seeing it with his own eyes was something entirely different.

This was not a normal war.

This was destruction on a scale he could barely comprehend.