Deep within the sea of trees, a babbling brook cascaded into a curtain waterfall, plunging straight down.
At the edge of the cliff, a winding ice slide stretched downward, coming to a halt at a village.
"Ugh..."
Having just slid down the ice chute and hit the ground, Natsu stood frozen in place, his face turning green.
"Natsu, can you really call this a mode of transportation?" Happy flew over, patted Natsu on the shoulder, and said speechlessly.
"How pathetic. Even Wendy is fine," Gray sneered, curling his lip.
"You... ugh..." Natsu pointed a trembling finger at Gray, but before he could get the words out, another wave of dizziness washed over him.
Standing nearby, Wendy lowered her head and let out a sweet little smile.
"Alright, let's go check out the situation in the village and look for Layla while we're at it."
Erza's expression turned stern as she put a stop to the group's bantering.
After splitting into two teams, they scattered to search the village for any clues.
On the north side of the village—
"So this is an ancient village?" Lucy looked around with a critical eye, taking in the rustic style of the houses.
Built on stone foundations and decorated with grass and wood, the dwellings clustered around the stream.
Lucy found it quite interesting—perhaps she could use this as material for a novel.
"Looks like nobody's home," Happy said softly, hovering right behind Lucy.
"Yeah, exactly. And to think those dark guilds didn't even destroy the village," Lucy nodded, a …
Chapter 148