Advent of the Archmage - Chapter 175

Chapter 175: The First Confrontation with the Demon

 

Link and Eleanor did not rush out of the capital city the moment Eleanor’s wound had been treated. Instead, they stayed in the Blue Hermit Inn and rested there for another day.

In the meantime, they both discussed matters of magic with each other. Eleanor’s profound insights in secret spells helped Link gain new knowledge and perspective, while Link’s own expertise and creativity in his use of elemental spells surprised Eleanor as well.

Then, on the second day, with the help of the holy water, the cut wound on Eleanor’s neck had basically closed, while Link’s own Mana had recovered to its fullest state. At the same time, he’d also refined and created three more pounds of Sacred Silver, albeit using ordinary silver instead of Mithril this time. This kind of Sacred Silver might not be as good as those made of Mithril, but it was still effective enough against the power of demons.

Once everything was ready, Link found them a carriage and off they went out of Springs City.

Then, on their way in the carriage, Eleanor suddenly thought of something.

“They called that young woman in the village Lisa,” she said, “but that’s not the woman’s real name. I think the demon called her Elena.”

“What did you say?!” asked Link, startled by this revelation.

“Well, it sounded something like that, though the demon’s voice wasn’t clear,” said Eleanor. “It could be Lena or Aina…I was too far away anyway, so I couldn’t hear them well enough.”

Link sunk into silence for a while, apparently brooding over the newly gained information.

“Do you remember the exact dates of the day you noticed the soul, Ellie?” asked Link.

“Of course I do! My memory isn’t so bad despite my age!” answered Eleanor. “It was about…28 days ago, so it must be January…14th.” Unbeknownst to her, Eleanor had just mentioned the date that sent a cold shiver down Link’s spine.

January 14 was the day when he accidentally killed Elena.

“Do you remember the exact time you noticed it?” Link asked more eagerly now.

“Was it in the morning or the afternoon? What time was it?”

“It must’ve been about three in the afternoon,” answered Eleanor.

Link took a deep breath then let out a long sigh after hearing Eleanor’s answer. It was just as he expected now. He had destroyed Elena’s body that day, but her soul had survived and escaped, then found a new body and was reborn again. And now that she was reborn she even managed to contact a demon. By the looks of it, although Link wasn’t sure exactly how she did it, he knew that Elena must’ve taken the detailed plans of the inner layout of the Mage Towers in the East Cove Magic Academy with her.

The puzzle pieces had formed into a complete picture now. The nagging suspicion Link had felt all along was also confirmed.

“What a sly, devious and malicious woman!” cursed Link before taking in another deep breath. He had gone through the massacre in Gladstone, he’d killed countless robbers and even some Dark Elves with his own hands, yet he still shuddered at the thought of facing such a crafty opponent as Elena.

He felt the most sympathy for his friend Eliard right now. He had been used and manipulated by the woman. Not only was his heart and spirits broken, he’d even thought of giving up magic because of her!

By then, the carriage had already reached the gates of the capital city and was about to leave its safety. Link and Eleanor then got out of the carriage, paid for the fare and continued their journey on foot.

There were still many people passing by on the King’s Lane since they were still so near to the capital city gates, so the demon hadn’t appeared yet even though Eleanor had begun to feel its presence now.

“I’d faced it directly before, so I know the scent of its soul,” said Eleanor. “He’s definitely lurking behind the trees of the forest near us, staring, waiting for the right time to pounce on me.” Eleanor then looked out into the forest beside the road and could distinctly feel a sharp sense of danger. The memory of the confrontation three days earlier was still fresh in her mind and it filled her whole being with fear.

Link nodded at Eleanor’s words, but he felt no real threat from this demon at all, and the reason was simple—if Eleanor could injure him even by using the weakened version of the Flame Blast in the Phoenix bracelet, then this demon was simply no match for him.

They both walked on for another couple of miles along King’s Lane. It was then ten in the morning. It’s a pity that on that day the sun was blocked by a sky of thick clouds, so it was impossible for Link to use the sunlight to weaken the demon’s power.

By then, even Link could feel the anomalous aura in the surrounding. It felt distinct, as if a pair of eyes in the darkness were following him around fixedly.

“It doesn’t even bother to hide its own scent!” exclaimed Eleanor. “I wonder if that’s out of arrogance or ignorance?” Eleanor turned to Link for his opinion. If he knew how to use the Sacred Silver to cure her wound, then he must know more about demons than she did.

Eleanor wasn’t disappointed then, when Link answered her confidently.

“It’s neither arrogance nor ignorance,” he said. “It just thought that there was no need for it.”

“What does that mean?” asked Eleanor, slightly confused.

“The abyss where the demons come from is a jungle world where you either kill or get killed. To survive there, you must bare your fangs and show off your strength as much as possible to intimidate other people and discourage them from attacking you. This demon must’ve thought that everyone here was weaker than it, so it felt no need to hide its presence. My guess is that it thought it was the king in this jungle.”

“Oh, so they’re just like wild beasts!” Eleanor finally found a suitable metaphor to describe the demons.

Link nodded in agreement. There was more about the demons that he hadn’t told Eleanor, of course. For example, he knew that demons were divided into two categories—the high-level demons and the low-level demons.

The low-level demons have lower intelligence, their nature was closer to a wild beast—their combat tactics were more instinctive rather than rational and strategic, and their strengths overall weren’t all that terrifying. As for high-level demons, well… to put it simply, 99% of the horrifying demons in the legends told from generations to generations in Firuman were high-level demons!

Judging from the current situation, the demon in the Girvent Forest seemed to be a low-level demon. Although it would be foolish to underestimate its strength, Link felt that he didn’t have much to fear from this beast. An average professional fighter might not be able to defeat it, but if it was a joint attack by three fighters and above then the demon would surely not be able to survive.

For one thing, though, the demon still showed some restraint as it did not attack them when they were still in broad daylight and in the midst of a crowd on the King’s Lane earlier. This meant that it was afraid of being discovered for some reason, causing him to stalk them in the darkness all this while without making any moves to attack them.

Finally, Link and Eleanor reached a place isolated enough that no one was around or likely to pass by.

“Let’s go into the forest,” said Link. There was no point in circling around avoiding the demon forever. Their best chance was to deal with the demon head-on.

“Understood,” answered Eleanor with a nod. She moved instinctively closer to Link as they entered the forest as it somehow made her feel safer.

They both plodded through the Girvent Forest for another quarter of a mile before they heard the sound of footsteps and snapped branches. Then a mighty beast sprung towards them out of the blue at an unimaginably high speed.

They were facing a demon after all, so Link didn’t dare to take its attacks lightly. He rushed forward to a spot where the vegetation was relatively sparse and shouted to Eleanor, “Activate the Guarding Barrier!”

As soon as he finished the sentence Link’s body was shrouded in the Crimson Edelweiss, while Eleanor had also activated her dragon bracelet. Thus, they were now both enveloped in a translucent bubble that glowed faintly in red.

Just then, a tall black figure burst out towards them from the dark forest. This figure was humanoid, although it was about seven feet tall and its skin was as black as ink.

At this moment, a tall black figure burst out in the forest.

This figure was humanoid and taller than seven feet. The surface of its body was dark with no pores. There were countless strange dark green runes on its skin, while on the outside of its arms there was a knife-like protrusion that seemed to be shrouded in a cold aura.

As soon as it rushed towards them, its red eyes shifted between Link and Eleanor, then it seemed to have recognized Eleanor and identified her as its target. Eleanor immediately stretched out her wrist and pointed it at the demon.

“Flame Blast!” she shouted.

This was the only spell she knew that had an effect on the demon. With a loud boom, a fan-shaped high-temperature flame then surged forward towards the demon.

However, this demon seemed to have remembered this trick by Eleanor, so the moment Eleanor raised her arms, it immediately dodged to the side at a phenomenal speed and escaped from the attack.

“Did you think I’d fall for that twice?” said the demon in a strange, unclear voice. Even as it spoke, its speed had not slowed down one bit. It then jerked its legs and shot towards Eleanor, at the same time stretching the blade-like protrusion on its arm towards her.

This time, the demon wouldn’t fall for the same trick again. With one stroke, the demon would cut off her head!

Eleanor was too late in triggering the second Flame Blast, but she still didn’t hide or dodge away from the demon. Firstly, because she still had a defensive shield around her, and secondly, because she knew that Link was right beside her.

The demon didn’t take any notice of the young man beside Eleanor at all. What could such a small fry do to a demon anyway? The demon quickly closed in on Eleanor and was now only about thirty feet away from her. At that point, he let out a roar and leaped up into the air.

In its expectation, its violent strike would surely crush through the woman’s magic shield, which would then leave her completely vulnerable to his arm blade attack. The woman’s head would be off her shoulder soon enough, then no one would ever know the secret between it and the holy maiden.

As for the young Magician who was with her, he would just have to take the hit of maybe one or two of the boy’s spells. But that wouldn’t matter at all, because his skin was highly resistant to magic, so at most, the spells would just leave him some scratches.

Oh, how wrong the demon had been!

Just at the moment when he leaped up, a giant hand with rings of red-hot fire grabbed him and held him mid-air, rendering him completely unable to move.

It was a spell Link had cast with his Glyph of Soul—the Vulcan’s Hand.

“Ahhhhh!!!” The demon was completely caught off guard. It then unleashed an explosive amount of energy in its attempt to escape the fiery hand’s clutch. The explosive energy came out as a powerful burst of black aura which was so mighty that it managed to scatter the fire elements of the Vulcan’s Hand!

Demons naturally had very strong battle force and their reaction was incredibly speedy. That was why Link didn’t use the high-temperature version of the Vulcan’s Hand.

Not bad, thought Link. This demon could withstand the power of a Level-5 spell, and the dark energy inside it is quite strong as well! A demon’s dark energy was almost bottomless and could never be depleted like a Magician’s Mana. This was the reason why demons were the most formidable foe a Magician could ever face!

Although the Vulcan’s Hand had now scattered, the demon didn’t rush forward even though he’d escaped from the giant hand’s grasp. Once its feet reached the ground the demon swiftly dodged sideways to avoid Eleanor’s second Flame Blast.

The scorching flames licked the demon’s skin, but it seemed to have made no harm to it at all. This was thanks to the demon’s excellent instinct, as it quickly unleashed a burst of dark energy right before the Flame Blast hit it, otherwise its skin would surely have been crisp.

The fact that it was able to escape unscathed from Link and Eleanor’s joint attacks meant that this demon would be one of the most powerful and formidable fighters in Firuman.

“Ha! This trick again? Pathetic!” Then, demon once again lunged towards Eleanor.

Then it was like a replay of the previous scene, as just when he moved forward another giant fiery hand caught it and held it in the air just as before. The demon’s limbs grappled the air as it struggled to get away, it now looked just like a kitten that was held in a hand.

“I’ll make you scatter again, stupid hand!” After getting attacked twice by the same method the demon erupted in anger. It bellowed as it unleashed another explosion of dark energy, this time its scream seemed to ring through the whole forest. Once again it managed to disperse the Vulcan’s Hand, but this time he could sense the moment his feet reached the ground that something was shooting towards it from behind. It was a Whistle. Not the normal Whistle though, but a Sacred Silver Whistle!

“So, you’re finally trying a new trick, huh?” jeered the demon.

The demon immediately felt the threat coming from behind and blocked the Whistle just in time with its arm blades.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Because of its strong combat instincts, the demon blocked all of Link’s Whistles with frightening precision and speed. But that wasn’t all the Whistles could do.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The Whistles exploded and sent fragments of Sacred Silver flying through the air. The flames from the explosions seemed to have swallowed up the demon’s whole body.

But Whistle was ultimately just a Level-1 spell, so even though the metal fragments were quite deadly to humans and Dark Elves who had very low defenses, they were really no threat to the demons who had very strong and hardy skin.

All the demon felt when the metal fragments hit it was a slight prickly pain. It bent his head to examine its skin for a while and noticed that there were some shallow wounds, but that was nothing to get worried about. What was scary was how these cut wounds couldn’t close up and how the dark energy around its body was slightly hampered and impeded now.

Those were the effects of the Sacred Silver.

The demon was momentarily stunned. It had never been attacked by anything like this before.

Just at that moment, Link triggered the Glyph of Soul and the Vulcan’s Hand that had just dispersed re-emerged and once again clutched the demon’s body in its palm.

“Ellie,” shouted Link, “the Sacred Silver Whistle!”

Eleanor had mastered Whistle ever since Link had given her the scroll that contained its spell structure at the Magicians’ Fair a while ago.

Eleanor was no longer afraid of the demon when she saw it clambering helplessly in Link’s giant fiery hand. Her attitude and performance at the time were finally at the standard of a Level-6 Master Magician.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

One-by-one, the Whistles shot out of Eleanor’s wand at a speed on par with Link’s Whistles. She’d cast three Whistles in one second, and under her control they all headed towards the demon’s head.

Bang, bang, bang!

The Whistles exploded, bringing about more Sacred Silver fragments all around the demon.

The strange attack had just wounded the demon not too long ago, so when it was hit with the same attack again the demon got even more confused. It had never faced this kind of spell before and had no idea how to defend itself from it. All this time his instincts had helped him win every battle, but once he’s forced to face a novel attack the demon was stumped. With this dampened response it was then unable to disperse Link’s Vulcan’s Hand.

Which meant it was the perfect timing for Link to kill the demon!

A steady whistle rang out of the Vulcan’s hand. It tightened its grasp on the demon abruptly, while its palm suddenly burst out in an intense bluish-white light—it was the fire elements of the Vulcan’s Hand finally breaking out into its wild nature!

“Aaaaahhhhh!!!” the demon howled in pain. There was an explosion of the dark demonic energy around it again, protecting it from the screaming heat of the fiery hand. But by then, the Vulcan’s Hand had already fully exploded and released an immense implosive force that pushed inwards at the demon, canceling out the outward pushing forces the dark energy had exerted on the Vulcan’s Hand.

And so, the demon could no longer disperse the Vulcan’s Hand this time, it could only resist its force.

However, although the dark energy in its body was immense, it still had its limits. The demon had already used a significant amount of energy in scattering the Vulcan’s Hand twice and was now continuously exerting energy to protect himself from the Vulcan’s Hand’s force. It had already expended a great chunk of its energy reserve.

Finally, after ten seconds in the grasp of the Vulcan’s Hand, the demon had emptied its dark energy. The flame then began to burn his body directly, and clouds of blue smoke billowed out. The scream in its throat then began to change its pitch and became so inhuman that it would curdle the blood of anyone who heard it.

The burning continued for another three seconds while the demon continued to scream. Just then, Link halted the Vulcan’s Hand.

Thump!

A charred body covered with blue smoke slumped to the ground. The demon’s skin was completely burned, and its raw flesh and blood were exposed. Surprisingly, the demon could still move. It squirmed on the ground, still attempting to escape, and its speed was increasing gradually.

Even its injuries were recovering in front of Link and Eleanor’s eyes! What a tenacious will to live!

Unfortunately, though, its time had come.

Swish swish swish swish.

Link cast four Sacred Silver Whistles towards the demon and they quickly pierced through its hand and both its legs. Then the Whistles exploded simultaneously, nailing the demon to the ground.

The Sacred Silver in these four Whistles were refined from Mithril, so the effects on the demon were much stronger than the previous ones, enough to overpower the demon’s defenses and pierce deep into the demon’s body. Once the Sacred Silver made contact with the demon’s blood, it would then suppress the dark energy inside its body.

This time, the demon would have no choice but be honest and spill out everything he knew.

Chapter 176: The Pillar of the Dark Elves

 

Demons were creatures from another dimension. They would not simply appear in Firuman out of thin air. Someone must have opened a portal to the abyss and summoned them.

Where was the location of the portal? Who was the summoner? These were the things Link wanted to know.

After casting an unmodified Edelweiss spell onto himself, Link walked towards the demon and raised his wand. A Sacred Whistle appeared at the tip of his wand. The whistle spun at a high speed and released a piercing screech through the atmosphere. Visible air ripples could be seen around it. Link positioned it only around two feet away from the demon. As long as Link release the spell, the Sacred Whistle would pierce into the demon’s skull and deal a fatal blow.

The demon was evidently becoming nervous. His bloodshot eyes stared at the whistle defensively.

Link stared silently at the demon with a smile on his face. He was familiar with the temperament of demons. When they were in good health and at the peak of their strength, they would be arrogant and explosive. However, when they lost all these advantages, they would not hesitate to abandon their pride and integrity to beg for mercy.

Survival of the fittest was the way of life in the environment they were brought up in. Anything else was secondary as long as they could stay alive. This was especially true for low-level demons. In the abyss, they were often bullied and repressed by the stronger high-level demons. Their pride had long been trampled on and destroyed.

After ten seconds, the demon could not maintain his composure anymore. He screamed, “I surrender…I surrender!”

Link had a look of satisfaction while Eleanor stared at him with a puzzling expression. She did not expect the wild ferocious demon they had just fought would say such cowardly words.

Link kept the scared whistle spell on hold and asked, “Who is your summoner?”

“Aymons de Romilson. He is a Magician like both of you. He is Level-7 in strength.

“What about the location?”

“The Horton Tower to the North. In the middle of Kuroshio Lake. I arrived in this world around ten days ago.”

“What is your purpose of coming here?”

The demon showed signs of hesitation and fell silent.

The Sacred Whistle at the tip of Link’s wand immediately dashed out and pierced through the abdomen of the demon before exploding inside his body. This injury would not be lethal but would cause unimaginable pain to a demon’s body.

Around 0.1 seconds after the release of the first Sacred Whistle, Link was already prepared with another one fully charged at the tip of his wand. It seemed as though the previous release was all but an illusion.

However, the pain was about as real as it could be. The burning sensation in his abdomen caused the demon to flail around on the ground in pain. He immediately roared his reply in fear that he would once again be subjected to the same treatment, “To protect the Holy Maiden. Yes, it is to protect her!”

“Her name?” Link replied almost instantaneously. This was to give the opponent no time to construct his thoughts and thus forcing him to speak the truth.

“Elena,” The demon mentioned a familiar name.

“If you are protecting the maiden you should know the person of contact. Are they the Dark Elves?” Link asked. There was no point in simply protecting her. Elena had already gotten the structure of three Mage Towers of the academy. She must have been tasked to deliver them back to their base. The low-level demon in front of them would definitely not be enough to accomplish this task. The Dark Elves must have sent someone else as a point of contact.

“Yes…oh no actually… Ahh! Yes, there is one! He is a Dark Elf named Lawndale Markins. I came here together with him!” The demon grimaced in pain as his moment of hesitation had once again earned him a blow of the Sacred Whistle.

“Where are they now?” There was not a hint of emotion in Link’s voice or face. But there were already violent ripples in his heart. If Felidia, Alina and Ainos were the three musketeers of the Silver Moon, then Lawndale Markins and Aymons de Romilson would be the two pillars of the Dark Elves!

They were not extremely talented individuals nor did they accomplish any feats in the game. In fact, they even seemed mediocre at their very best. However, if one were to look down on them, they would definitely suffer the taste of defeat.

They belonged to the group of people who would never make mistakes and advance their motives carefully step-by-step. One would usually call these people strategic geniuses.

A race would need people like the three musketeers to raise morale. They were important people as well, although they were more like the icing on the cake. There would be no serious ramifications if they did not exist. However, if people like Aymons who could stabilize and analyze the situation clearly did not exist, a race might face complete destruction.

“The fight with the Dark Elves has only just begun,” Link sighed.

However, Link concealed his emotions extremely well. The demon could not see through his expression. Furthermore, the fear of being tortured had already put him under great pressure. He could only speak the truth now.

“In Chestnut Village. I beg of you please kill me. I have already told you all that I know.” The demon was clear of his situation. He knew that he could not escape from Link alive. All he wanted was a quick and painless death.

Eleanor softly whispered, “Chestnut Village was where I found Elena. I know the exact location.”

Link nodded slightly and asked, “You said that Elena was a Holy Maiden. Which God is she serving?” This was what Link wanted to know.

However, the demon repeatedly shook his head, “I have no idea. I truly don’t. It was Lawndale who called me here. He calls her the Holy Maiden and therefore I do as well. Why would I bother to ask who she serves?” This was the truth. He said it without hesitation.

“How strong is Lawndale Markins?” This was the last question. According to history, the Lawndale in this timeline had not fully matured. He should even be slightly weaker than Felidia.

“He is extremely weak! I can destroy him with one hand! His magic is a joke. If he did not know my real name, I would have smashed his skull a long time ago!” The demon lashed out, confirming Link’s suspicions.

Link had already asked all his questions. He reckoned that the demon had outlived its usefulness and fired the Sacred Whistle straight into his skull.

The demon jerked violently before he became completely motionless. Following which, a huge amount of black smog emerged from its body. This gas corroded everything along its way and in the blink of an eye, the land had turned into a polluted marshland. The surrounding vegetation withered at a speed visible to the naked eye, while the ground turned into a noxious concoction of poison and mud. For the vegetation that was slightly further away, they escaped death narrowly, though, the color of their leaves and bark had turned many shades darker. It was extremely ominous looking.

This gas extended to a full 30 meters before dissipating.

Link knew that if he left this land as is and let the powers of nature purify it, this land would take at least three years before it would return to its original state.

Eleanor’s eyes widened in horror. “How terrifying! The Legends have stated that after our forefather killed a powerful demon, the poisonous smog would pollute lands even hundreds of miles away. I have always thought they were exaggerating. Now, it seems like they were speaking the truth.”

Link nodded. “We were lucky that this demon was not strong. We can purify this easily with flames. Eleanor, I need your help for this one. Use the Flame Blast spell.”

“I understand.”

The two of them stood with their backs against each other and started using the single directional Flame Blast spell consecutively.

The boiling magma flowed through the lands and roasted everything along its way. The soil was swept violently through the currents while the vegetation was burned to ashes. Amongst the violent fluctuations of energy, the demonic forces were decomposed into a more basic elemental energy.

When they were done, green smog could be seen rising from the ground. However, the ground had already turned from an ominous black color to one that was normal. There might still be some residual demonic energy here, but those were negligible.

After the purification, Eleanor led the way while Link followed behind. They made a beeline for Chestnut Village.

On the way, Eleanor introduced the situation to Link. “Chestnut Village is not huge. There are only about 200 people in it. It is a small farmland that belongs to a noble in the area. After a month of observation, I realized that Elena is extremely good at hiding her identity. She looks just like an ordinary countrywoman, Lisa in front of everyone else. I could find no flaws in her acting. If not for the fact that I’ve seen her resurrection first hand, I could not have imagined that she was the Holy Maiden.”

Link could totally imagine the situation. He once stayed with this woman for several months in the same Mage Tower and failed to find any flaws in her disguise. Even a genius like Eliard was played like a pawn by her hands. She was a dangerous woman.

Link then asked, “Did you see the Dark Elf, Lawndale Markins?”

“No. I have no idea if he made contact with the Holy Maiden. I did not notice his existence at all. He must have been concealing himself well.”

“This Dark Elf is not very powerful. However, he is extremely vigilant. As the demon contractor, he should be fully aware that the demon is dead. We need to hurry.”

Link summoned the Wind Fenrir and sat behind Eleanor after helping her up. The Wind Fenrir then darted out like a gust of strong gale, charging straight towards Chestnut Village upon Eleanor’s directions.

…

Chestnut Village.

Elena felt slightly uneasy. As a countrywoman, she was weaving using the spinning wheel in her room.

In order to play a variety of roles, she learned a number of skills. Weaving was an essential skill that all countrywoman needed to know. As a veteran actress, she was of course, well-versed in it.

The spinning wheel creaked with a routine rhythm, but Elena’s mind was completely not focused on her current activity.

Four days earlier, the demon found a person peeping at her. He had not returned after giving chase for such a long time. It was starting to feel strange.

“Did something happen?” Elena felt uneasy. However, she had to maintain her composure and not show any signs that could reveal her true identity. Her role as a countrywoman had greatly restricted her movements. Furthermore, she had lost all her powers due to her resurrection.

At that moment, a faint figure appeared in the dark corner of the room. A soft voice then rang in her head, “Elena, leave now. Darl is dead. We have been exposed.”

This came as a shock to Elena. She had witnessed the demon’s power first hand. Who could have killed him in the Girvent Fores?

However, now was not the time to be worried over such things. In fact, after knowing that Darl as dead, she felt unexpectedly calm. She then spoke, “Lawndale, do not care about me. I have no powers now and would only slow you down.”

She still intended to leave. However, she had no powers and had to be sure that Lawndale truly wished to protect her and take her away. If he left her to her own devices in the middle of the road, she would be in trouble.

“How can I do that? You are the sacred Holy Maiden. You must stay alive. Stop hesitating, come with me!” The voice sounded determined. He then walked out of the dark corner and revealed his appearance. It was a Dark Elf about 25 years of age. He looked extremely ordinary and his eyes did not have the usual evil charm that most Dark Elves had. In fact, there was a hint of loyalty in them. He pulled Elena’s hand and dashed out of the room.

“But I will slow you down,” Elena once again spoke in a delicate voice.

Lawndale had a passionate expression on his face and assured, “Don’t worry, I will see that you are safe even if it meant sacrificing my life!”

Upon hearing those words, Elena bowed her head and gently whispered, “Thank you, Lawndale.”

A smirk then appeared on her face as she thought, What a gullible young lad.

However, as Elena was feeling satisfied, she did not realize that the Dark Elf who was holding her hands so firmly was staring at her with a look of mockery.

Using slutty tricks to deceive me? I am only doing this out of respect for master. If I am successful, good for you. If I am not…you are merely a disposable prostitute, Lawndale thought with disgust.

Chapter 177: A Tough Opponent

 

When Link and Eleanor arrived at Chestnut Village it was already after three in the afternoon. Thick dark clouds covered the sun in the sky making it quite dark; it even seemed as if a storm was brewing as gusts of wind swayed the trees around the small village till they flailed helplessly in the air.

“It’s going to rain soon,” said Eleanor gloomily as she looked up at the sky. “If they fled through the forest the rain would wash away all their tracks; we might not be able to follow them then.”

Link frowned as well. He didn’t expect to encounter such bad weather today.

To prevent from shocking the villagers, Link had stopped at the edge of the forest and halted the Wind Fenrir. They then continued the journey into the village on foot.

The villagers here had hardly ever received any visitors from outside the tiny remote mountain village, so when Link and Eleanor appeared they all flocked to see these strangers who looked so different from them. The children were particularly boisterous around them. Most of these kids didn’t wear any clothes at all and they ran about in front of Link and Eleanor with their naked little butts fully exposed.

The children loved to gather around Eleanor and stared at her with wonder. This was completely understandable because of Link’s unremarkable looks, so they naturally found nothing about him that was admirable. Meanwhile, Eleanor was dressed in a black Magician’s dress that was made with luxurious materials. She had an extraordinary looking bracelet on each of her delicate wrists and her face was simply enchanting. To the villagers, she was no less magical than an angel who’d just stepped out of a painting!

Eleanor had lived a solitary life for the past century, so she was quite moved by the experience of being surrounded and admired so closely and openly by so many people. Even though she was the center of everyone’s attention then, Eleanor was also staring at the villagers in wonder herself.

“I’ve heard that a woman in the village had received the God of Light’s blessings and was resurrected,” said Link to a farmer he just approached. “We are here on a pilgrimage to witness the Lord’s miracle. Would you tell me where we can find her?”

Once the farmer and the other villagers around him heard Link’s words they all lit up with a smile that was full of pride and honor. Although they’d always flocked to the visitors from the outside world that they occasionally received, experience taught them to be wary of outsiders as they might bring harm to the village. Still, these two visitors were pilgrims, so they must be pious followers of the God of Light, therefore they couldn’t come with any intention to harm them.

Then, a young man stepped up closer to Link and introduced himself proudly.

“By the glory of the God of Light, it is true, stranger,” he said. “There is indeed a woman in this village who was resurrected. She’s my wife, Lisa. Both of you follow me, she would be glad to tell you what she saw in heaven.”

Link and Eleanor looked at each other then followed the young man.

The houses in the village were very simple with wooden doors, thatched walls and thatched roofs. Each family had a small courtyard. Link followed the young man for about three hundred feet on a road heaped with a sludge of cattle and sheep dung. Finally, they stopped in front of a small courtyard.

“Here we are, this is my home,” said the young man happily. He then shouted, “Lisa! Lisa! You’ve got visitors!”

They waited there for a while but there was no response except for an old brown dog who came out from the backyard after hearing its owner’s voice.

“That’s strange,” said the man, confused. “Where is she?” He pushed the door open and checked inside the house. Lisa should be spinning the yarn inside at this hour, but as he entered the house all he saw was a vacant wheel without any yarn and no sight of his wife.

“Lisa? Lisa?” The young man was starting to get anxious. He walked out of the house and headed towards the courtyard to tell the visitors about his missing wife, but when he came out he discovered that the two strangers were gone as well.

“Huh? Where did they go?” remarked the young man in growing perplexity. “Lisa, where are you? Lisa?” The young man then continued to call out her name all around the house, but the only response he got was silence.

Meanwhile, outside in the courtyard, Link and Eleanor were both enveloped in the faint aura of a high-level Invisibility spell. They saw how the young man still couldn’t find his wife and his face had gradually become darker and gloomier.

“She must’ve got wind of the news that we’re coming,” said Eleanor. This wasn’t surprising to Link at all. The minute he knew that Lawndale was involved he realized that they shouldn’t expect much from this trip to the Chestnut Village.

Lawndale was still unknown at the time, but Link knew even then that he was a much tougher opponent to deal with than Felidia. This Dark Elf knew its own strengths and limits and he knew how to work around them. He would never take any unnecessary risks or make any rash decision. All in all, this was a sharp, precise and decisive Dark Elf that must not be underestimated.

Eleanor stayed silent. Her eyes were as black as Link’s and they were now glowing faintly in a purple aura as they were keeping a close eye on the little wooden house where Lisa or Elena was supposed to be.

Eleanor was using a tracking spell to track her.

Half a second later, she turned away from the house and walked towards its backyard. Link understood that this meant she had picked up on the woman’s trail, so he followed right behind Eleanor.

Just then, the man in the yard had grown panicked and was calling wife’s name over and over again, his voice heavy with worry and fear. Moments later, a white-haired old man and an old woman started to join the search and was calling out Lisa’s name as well. They must’ve been the young man’s parents.

Link let out a heavy sigh at the sight of those people searching for someone Link knew was gone forever. To Link, he was only pursuing Elena to thwart the Black Moon Conspiracy which might have worried him very much but once it’s over he would move on from it easily. To this family, though, especially to the young man, this would be a great tragedy that they might grieve over for the rest of their lives.

They’d lost the young woman Lisa once, but she’d come back before they came to terms with her passing. Now that she’s back for a month she’s gone once again and the whole family would have to go through the grieving process all over again. This kind of torment was enough to make a man go crazy!

Link sighed, then grabbed ten gold coins from his storage pendant and floated it through a window into the house using Magician’s Hand. This amount would be enough for the young man to find a new wife and begin his life anew. Link didn’t know how much it would help but he hoped that it could at least slightly alleviate the pain the young man and his family would have to suffer in the future.

Eleanor gave Link a look when she noticed what he was doing.

“It was the man’s fate to lose his wife,” she said. “Things like this happen all the time all over Firuman, and it happens to countless men and women. There’s nothing you can do about it, it’s just a fact of life.”

“Why did you have to make such a fuss over a small act of kindness?” replied Link. “I just felt sorry for them and wanted to help in any way I could, that’s all.”

Eleanor was taken aback by Link’s words and stared at him wordlessly for a while.

For the past century or so, Eleanor had come across so many self-professed moralists who spouted all sorts of noble ideals. But she was sure that when these men were in the same position as Link was now, five out of ten would’ve just ignored the family and moved on indifferently. Four of them might offer them some comforting words, while one of them might give them some money, albeit not without letting everyone know how kind they had been to the less fortunate. Eleanor had never met anyone like Link in her long life who would just leave the money to the family without letting anyone know, all because he felt sorry for them.

Perhaps this was the reason why a Master Magician like Eleanor had always trusted Link unconditionally and knew intuitively that he would never betray her.

She then silently grabbed five gold coins from her storage ring and flung it into the house through the same window.

“This should be enough for him to get a beautiful new wife,” she said. Fifteen gold coins were indeed a fortune for a farmer’s family, it might even be such a big amount that it would bring them trouble, although Link said nothing of the matter and just smiled at Eleanor.

The two then continued to follow the trail. They did not use any magic spells to increase their speed because the Mana fluctuation would interfere with what already weak scent they left. Soon after, they were lead into the forest behind the village. When they followed the trail for about a quarter mile, Eleanor suddenly stopped in her tracks.

“What’s wrong?” asked Link, he thought Eleanor’s tracking spell should be able to detect the trails without any problems seeing that she was a Master Magician specializing in secret spells.

“It’s strange,” said Eleanor, frowning, “but the trail has been divided into two, and I don’t know which one we should follow.” She hadn’t been worried about not being able to detect the trails, it wasn’t for no reason that she was a mighty Level-6 Master Magician. But now that the spell was leading her to two different trails, she was simply flummoxed.

“Just choose any one of them, then,” answered Link after thinking about it.

There was no other choice, anyway. Eleanor then chose the trail on the left, and so they followed it for a while and then she stopped abruptly again. Her eyebrows almost knitted to each other now.

“The trail forked into two again,” she said, full of frustration. “What’s going on here? Did she know how to duplicate herself?”

“Just choose another trail, then,” said Link, who now began to feel confused as well. Too bad this was the only way they could trace them, and Link himself wasn’t proficient in tracking spells, so he could only rely on Eleanor in this case.

They had no other choice, so Eleanor chose the trail on her right and they walked along for another half mile. This time not only did Eleanor stop suddenly, but her jaw was dropped as well.

Right there, in front of them, was a very familiar scene—it was where they first started to notice the trail had divided into two!

“We’re running around in circles!” said Eleanor. “What exactly is going on here?”

Link stood there in silence, contemplating the matter. Then, a few seconds later, he had a revelation.

“Although Elena was good at manipulating men,” he said, “I don’t think she’d think of this trick. This must be the Dark Elf’s doing. I must admit that it’s an ingenious plan—what he did was he just deliberately wandered around in the forest. There was a 50% percent chance each time the trail divided that we would choose the wrong trail, which would then lead us back to the original spot, and that would give him more time to make his escape!”

It was such a simple plan in pLinkiple but when it was combined with the complex terrain of the mountainous forest here, this trick could waste a lot of the pursuer’s time. Even if Link and Eleanor had known from the start that this trick had been used, they’d still have to bet on luck and choose a trail randomly. Obviously, Eleanor’s luck wasn’t so good today as she’d chosen the wrong route, which had taken them back to where they started.

Eleanor had a sharp mind herself, so she immediately understood what the Dark Elf was planning just from Link’s simple explanation. Still, she had some points she didn’t quite understand.

“But how could he be so sure that we’d choose the wrong path?” she asked. “What if we did choose the right path? Wouldn’t that just waste the time that he could’ve spent on escaping?”

“I’m afraid it isn’t that simple,” answered Link with a gentle shake of his head.

Link knew from the game that Lawndale was a man who took no risks. Link guessed that even if Eleanor had chosen the right trail she would still be stumped by another trick further down. Besides, the possibility that Eleanor would choose the right trail twice was smaller than one in three anyway, so there was a good chance that they could buy some time in their escape.

“So what do we do now?” asked Eleanor.

“We’ll continue the chase,” said Link. Since their scent was still there, it must mean that they’re not that far away, so they still had a chance to catch up.

“Alright, then,” answered Eleanor.

The two then continued their tracking of Elena and the Dark Elf, this time choosing different trails from the ones they did before.

After more than half a mile, Eleanor stopped for the third time.

“There’s a fork in the trail again,” she said. “I hate this damned Dark Elf bastard! Which direction should we choose now, left or right?”

“Can you sense any difference between the two trails at all?” asked Link.

“No,” answered Eleanor, shaking her head. “The scent they left was too sparse and dispersed.”

After listening to Eleanor’s reply, Link started to get more serious and examine the traces left on the ground himself. Because he’d been spending a lot of time learning the art of enchantment, he had become especially observant, much more so than the average Magician. This was because he must make sure that there was no mistake at all in his spell structure, not even the smallest magic rune, otherwise the magic gear would fail.

Link couldn’t detect the scent in the atmosphere that Eleanor was following at all, but he could still detect the physical tracks that Elena and the Dark Elf left on the surrounding such as footprints, snapped branches, bent blades of grass and so on. If he examined them closely enough, there were clues there that would be helpful in tracking them down.

Because the forest floor was covered in fallen leaves, the footprints could not be relied on as there was no difference at all between the footprints in both trails. Fortunately, though, the snapped off stems of trees did provide him with valuable clues.

Link could judge how long the tree stems had been snapped off by their freshness. Those that were newly broken off would still be moist, while those that had been broken off a long time ago would have dried off, and so he could judge the length of time since Elena and the Dark Elf had passed the trail.

In this case, the difference was minute, but it was enough for Link’s eyes to discern.

“Let’s follow the one on the right,” said Link after examining the trail for three minutes. “They passed through this way about forty minutes ago.”

“Alright, then,” said Eleanor, who then promptly followed the trail that Link had chosen.

They then walked on for about half a mile. Then, the trail forked into two again. At this point they were beginning to suspect if the Dark Elf knew a spell that could divide himself into two identical bodies.

“This is not good,” Eleanor spread out her hands helplessly. “There are two trails again.”

“Don’t get frustrated,” said Link calmly. “We’ll just keep moving forward.”

And so, they followed the trail and persisted on for half a mile. No new tracks appeared, and Eleanor’s frown began to deepen, but Link started to smile instead.

Seeing that Eleanor was about to give up, Link realized he had to say something.

“He didn’t walk in circles to confuse us this time,” said Link, smiling, “he just walked forward as he normally would. There are two trails here, because one was used by the Dark Elf when he was coming in this direction, while the other trail is the one he is currently walking on. If I’m not mistaken, they shouldn’t be too far away from us now.”

Lawndale had been in the Chestnut Village for quite a while and he was very familiar with Norton Kingdom, so he must’ve made thorough preparations for an escape route in case their plans were found out.

Eleanor was still skeptical, though.

They walked on for another half a mile when Link noticed new tracks on the ground.

“Elena’s new body must’ve slowed them down to a crawl!” he said with a laugh. “We should catch up with them in no time.”

They then went further for few more minutes. Then, Link noticed there was a woman by the roadside. A dagger was stuck in the back of the woman’s head and blood came gushing out of the wound. She looked as if she had just died, though her eyes were stuck open and her face was frozen in an expression of shock.

Eleanor’s eyes widened as she realized who it was.

“It’s Lisa!” she exclaimed, horrified. “Who killed her?”

“It must’ve been the Dark Elf, he must’ve thought that she’s dragging him down, so he discarded her,” said Link, squatting down in front of Lisa’s body to examine her wound. He then shook his head. “There’s no denying that the Dark Elf was cold-blooded. It’s far too late to save her, she’s dead.”

“The Dark Elf shouldn’t be too far away from us now,” said Eleanor. “Should we increase our speed?” She’d seen how cold and calculative this opponent was, and she was sure that without Link’s help there was no way she could catch up with him.

“There’s no use,” said Link, shaking his head. “We won’t catch him today.”

“Why not?” asked Eleanor, slightly puzzled. But just then she felt a drop of water on her face and she couldn’t help but sigh. “Seems like it’s going to be a heavy rain.”

The rain would definitely flush away all traces of the Dark Elf’s trails. Had the Dark Elf still brought Elena with him, she would’ve slowed him down enough that Link could probably find a way to catch up with them. But now that Lawndale had gotten rid of the burden, there was no hope they’d ever catch up with him.

He checked his mission status on the interface and discovered that it was still incomplete. When they were investigating and following the trails, the notification box of the Black Moon Conspiracy mission did flash up on the interface from time to time, though Link couldn’t make out any details in the notification at all.

In the end, Link had been outplayed in this encounter with Lawndale, who managed to stay a step ahead. He learned today how important it was to not take the strong and prominent figures in this world lightly, or else they could slip out and escape right under your nose.

Chapter 178: The Final Step

 

They were unsuccessful in tracking the Dark Elves. However, they killed the demon and determined Elena’s true whereabouts. Link then bade farewell to Eleanor and returned to the academy to report the Lawndale incident to Herrera.

Herrera valued Link’s opinions and immediately reported the matter to the dean. Upon hearing the news, it was rumored that Anthony was so furious and shocked that the crystal glass he was holding fell out his hand and shattered into pieces.

The alert level of the entire academy was already very high. This time, they raised it even a notch higher, upgrading every single pivotal Mage Tower in the academy.

They seemed to be preparing for a formidable enemy.

The amount of attention the academy placed on this issue gave Link a peace of mind. In the days that followed, he simply charged the Prophet white stone whenever he could while continuing his magic research, trying to improve his knowledge as much as possible before the fated day.

He had a practical goal, which was to shorten the casting time of his Level-6 spell, the Titan’s Hand. While the spell had great offensive power, Link still needed at least five seconds to cast the spell even with the help of the in-game system. The combat utility of the spell was thus, heavily compromised.

This was the awkward part about being a Magician. The higher the level of the spell, the more complex the magic structure. Although the strength of the spell would increase exponentially each level, so would the casting time.

During a battle, the higher the level of the opponents, the lesser the advantage a Magician had over other professions. This was true all the way until a Magician attained the Legendary status.

Link simply needed to reduce his spellcasting time—even 0.1 seconds would be a significant reduction.

The East Cove Higher Magic Academy was recovering well from their minor setback.

On the other hand, Dark Elf Lawndale had just narrowly escaped from Link’s pursuit. He did not dare to stay in the Girvent Forest any longer and made his journey all the way back to the North.

Around half a month later, Lawndale returned to the Black Lake.

This was the core area of the Black Forest. Although the Norton Kingdom was advancing fast into the territory, their vanguard forces were still at least 500 miles away. Hence, this area was still safe.

After circling around the lake for half a mile, Lawndale saw a dock ahead. No boatman could be seen on the pier, although a few wooden canoes could be seen. Lawndale casually embarked onto a wooden canoe and tapped his toes gently onto the magic circle engraved on it. As mana surged into the magic circle, the water elemental spell that was enchanted onto the canoe was instantly activated.

The small wooden canoe darted out and headed towards the island in the center of the lake steadily but rapidly. There was a Mage Tower on the island called Horton Tower. This tower belonged to his mentor, Duke Aymons.

Aymons was a Level-7 Magician, and his parliamentary status in the Silver Moon was only secondary to the Chancellor. The demon that accompanied him to the Girvent Forest this time around was also summoned by his mentor.

After 20 minutes, Lawndale stepped onto the island. The island was filled with dense overgrowth, and one could vaguely see shadows drifting amongst the thick mist. These shadows were all tower guard demons who were summoned by his mentor. Their strength was around Level-3 to Level-4, and their battle abilities were almost three times higher than ordinary soldiers of their level.

Lawndale charged his staff with mana which caused it to glow in a light purple hue. This was a magic marking. Under the effect of this magic marking, he would not be attacked by these demonic creatures.

He then stepped cautiously into the forest. After ten minutes, a tower with a similar exterior to that of a castle appeared in his field of vision. The tower was surrounded by a circle of tall walls, and a 12-foot-tall demon stood aloofly at the entrance of the gate.

Not only was the demon tall, but there was also a thick layer of demonic scales surrounding his tough exterior. There were almost no gaps in this dense armor and a knife shaped horn grew from its skull. He looked extremely intimidating as he held two giant swords which were larger than Lawndale himself in his hands.

This demon was called Bruttan, a Level-7 Demon Warrior. He was the strongest demon his mentor had ever summoned, and probably had the power to crush the entire army of Firuman Warriors if he wanted to.

Lawndale greeted the demon with respect and said, “Dear Bruttan, I would like to speak to my mentor.”

The demon looked down condescendingly at Lawndale and rumbled with disdain, “Little one, didn’t you bring Nobi together with you? Where is he?”

“Nobi was met with misfortune. I was just about to report to my mentor regarding this issue.”

“What? Who could have killed Nobi? He might have been a bit of a joke, but his power is not something that you mortals can ever hope to match up to. Tell me who did it!” Bruttan stared at Lawndale with bloodshot eyes, his pupils burning with violent tendencies.

Lawndale felt pressured by the intimidating gaze, so much so that he felt difficulty breathing. He tried to remain calm and said, “Dear Bruttan, I need to see my mentor.”

At that moment, a voice rang from the Mage Tower, “Bruttan, let him in.”

Upon hearing the sound, Bruttan’s intimidating stature dissipated. He muttered a few words under his breath before obediently clearing the path for Lawndale.

Lawndale heaved a sigh of relief and entered the tower. Once he was inside the castle walls, he finally saw his fellow Dark Elves. Some of them were his direct seniors and juniors, while others were servants that he had grown close to in the past few years. He immediately felt a lot more at ease.

As one of the Magicians saw Lawndale, he pointed to the tower and said, “Mentor is waiting for you at the rooftop balcony. Please make your way there.”

“How is he feeling?” Lawndale whispered.

“I cannot tell. Probably not too bad,” the Magician replied.

“Alright. Thank you.” Lawndale needed to prepare himself.

Lawndale climbed up the winding grey staircase to the rooftop balcony. The balcony was extremely wide and was enveloped in a translucent light dome. Through the dome, the area within a six-mile radius from the Horton Tower seemed to be brought infinitely closer without any compromise on the details.

An old man clad in a grey robe stood silently on one side of the roof. He did not turn his body even when he heard some noises behind him. He simply spoke softly, “In my dreams, the Dark Lady brought me a message. She mentioned that the Lord in the South is extremely displeased with your action of killing Elena.”

The Dark Lady and the Lord in the South were all god-like presences. For a mortal to have angered a god—this was absolutely not good news.

However, there was no hint of fear on Lawndale’s face. He calmly explained, “The situation then was dire. If I hadn’t killed her, she would have ended up in the hands of East Cove Higher Magic Academy. If that truly happened, I am sure the Lord in the South would be even more unhappy.”

“Yes.” Aymons nodded. He then turned around, revealing his face filled with wrinkles and a pair of white pupils. He was already blind.

“Nobi could not be considered weak. Who could have killed him?” Aymons asked.

“I was in a hurry then. The downpour that happened erased most of my evidence of escape. I only managed to catch a glimpse of him from afar. It should be that guy.”

There was no need for names of descriptions. As Lawndale’s mentor, Aymons knew exactly who he was talking about. He said, “This is your first time dealing with him. What do you think?”

Lawndale recounted his experience in the Girvent Forest, and his eyes twitched ever so slightly. “I am not his opponent in a direct battle as of now. However, I am confident that our mental capabilities are on par. Although there is one area where he is stronger than me by leaps and bounds.”

“Tell me more.” There was no hint of emotional fluctuations in Aymon’s voice.

“He is not a one-man team. He has already gathered a powerful alliance around him. I have done my research and realized that he has allies in the academy, the mercenary band, MI3, the merchant world and even a Level-6 Secret Magician. There have even been rumors that he is on good terms with Princess Celine. Not only is he open-minded, but he is also humble. I could not feel even a hint of the usual arrogance that Magicians had on him. He can always accurately determine the talents of others and is highly charismatic. These social skills are what makes him extremely dangerous.”

This plan was meant to be carried out in secret; Chestnut Village was an extremely remote area. Nobi was originally only tasked to track down a Level-6 Secret Magician. However, Link’s appearance messed up the entire plan.

Who would imagine that an official Magician from the highly prestigious East Cove Higher Magic Academy would have connections with a secret Magician that had once dabbled in the dark arts? This was the preposterous scene that happened right in front of Lawndale’s eyes.

This made Lawndale feel extremely vulnerable. He felt as though Link had multiple tentacles, some of which he was still unaware of. If he ever stepped foot into the Girvent Forest, he might be done in by any one of them as long as he made a single mistake.

It was almost impossible to defend against such tactics.

Aymons stayed silent for a long time before speaking again, “The Dark Lady once told me that the God of Light found a new Chosen One amongst the people of Firuman. Originally, I thought nothing of it. It would at most be another Bryant. However, it seems that the situation is more dire than I have imagined.”

The Legendary Magician Bryant; all mortals would have heard of his righteous name and probably revered him in his endless glory. However, the people who were familiar with the true history knew that the reason Bryant could achieve such extraordinary feats was only partly due to his gift. The other reason was the blessings of God.

He was the previous candidate chosen by the God of Light.

Furthermore, while Bryant indeed became the Legendary Magician that everyone respected and loved, he was eccentric and a hopeless romantic. He spent his whole life tangling with a High Elf woman, and even made a rash decision out of love.

Bryant could serve as a deterrent to the dark forces and good role model for the people of Firuman. However, he did not know how to surround himself with allies. No matter how strong Bryant became, it was impossible for him to change the world. In fact, a demon named Tarviss was all it took to wear him down.

However, this new candidate was something else.

Lawndale then followed up, “What do we do then?”

Aymons shook his head. “We must treat this person seriously. However, the priority is to first destroy the Norton Kingdom Army who is currently heading north.”

Lawndale looked at Aymons with a surprised expression, “Mentor, are we going to activate the God item?”

Aymons nodded, his grey-white eyes turning towards the crystal screen on his side. “The time is almost ripe. The East Cove Higher Magic Academy is the final step.”

The moment the academy fell, the Norton Kingdom would lose most of its defensive power. Their magic capabilities would also be reduced by at least 50%. Coupled with the power of the God item, it would be easy for the Dark Elves to reverse the situation.

“Mentor, are you saying that we need to bring forward the Black Moon Conspiracy? But the old guy in the Tower of Azula might not be ready.”

“Oh, the old guy is merely a sacrifice,” Aymons laughed.

Chapter 179: The Looming Crisis

 

At the Azura Tower of the East Cove Magic Academy.

The squat, white tower was like a silent old man, standing there soberly on the hillside overlooking the entire East Cove Magic Academy.

It was a place where those that were wicked and evil were cast away from the outside world since time immemorial. Over the course of centuries, countless secrets were buried in the tower where even the dean of the East Cove Magic Academy couldn’t possibly unearth.

What went on inside the white tower? What did the prisoners inside think, plan and do? No one knew.

Bale sat cross-legged inside his cage in the white tower. Outwardly it would seem that he sat there motionless, doing nothing. The guards in the tower who were responsible for maintaining the prisoners’ elemental balance walked past him without batting an eye.

Yet they didn’t realize that Bale was very much active on the spiritual level. He was communicating with some of the prisoners kept in the tower’s dungeons deep underground.

“Did you expect me to believe a sock puppet like you?” a gloomy voice rang in Bale’s head. “Did you really think that I’d believe you could help us escape?” The owner of this voice had been imprisoned in the dungeons for 300 years, so the 70-year-old Bale was, in his eyes, a little boy still playing house.

“I guarantee it with my soul,” Bale vowed. “I will find a way for us to escape.”

“Ha! To hell with your soul! It’s probably worth a few coppers!” sneered another voice. “Still, your plan doesn’t sound half bad. If Tarviss was released, then the whole East Cove would surely be brought to ashes.”

“So what if the East Cove was brought to ashes? That’s got nothing to do with me,” this voice was exceptionally brutish, as its owner was a magical beast with a high level of intelligence. “That pathetic group of people who call themselves Magicians locked me down here for two hundred years! I can’t wait to go out and eat them all!”

“Of course the academy has nothing to do with you, you’re just a wild beast!” replied another voice. “But I’m a member of the academy, those who’d locked me up are all gone, so I have no more reason to hate the academy.”

“That’s right,” rang out a chorus of voices, “I won’t trust a plan with a wild beast in it!”

“Who are you calling a wild beast!” the magical creature’s voice boomed. “When I get out I’ll bite off all of your heads!”

“You motherf*cking animal!” another voice responded immediately.

For a time, the group of monsters who had been locked up in the tower for decades or even centuries began a war of words with each other in Bale’s mind. They’d all forgotten the reason why they were having a discussion in the first place.

Bale’s head was about to explode at the chaos that erupted. It wasn’t the first time he’d used the Spiritual Nexus to communicate with the prisoners of the Azura Tower. Yet, every time these monsters got together they always ended up in dispute, so they never really came to any kind of agreement.

He then ended the Spiritual Nexus spell, and all the voices in his head disappeared immediately. The world was coldly silent again.

What should I do? thought Bale while he massaged his temple. He had recovered the Mana in his body up to 70% of his former strength and even his eyes had restored its function. This was undoubtedly good progress.

With this level of strength, he could probably cause a bit of ruckus in the Azura Tower, but nowhere near collapsing and destroying it. Right now, he probably couldn’t even defeat the tower guards who walked past his cell every day. Their attack strategy was very simple, all they did was continuously shoot an Elemental Arrow, which moved at an incredible speed and contained the power equivalent to a Level-6 spell.

Once you were surrounded by a large group of guards attacking you with various types of Elemental Arrows, it didn’t matter how high your level was or how powerful you had been. In fact, even the dean Anthony himself wouldn’t be able to escape unscathed under these circumstances.

There was only one way to destroy the Azura Tower and escape from here, and that was to release the demon Tarviss. And the only way to do that was to unite the powers of all the prisoners in this tower, but these prisoners…well, they all came from different places and different backgrounds, so it was tricky to keep them on the same page, to say the least.

Just as Bale was brooding hard on the matter, he felt a shake in his consciousness. Immediately afterwards, he thought he saw a burst of white light in the depths of his mind, and the burst was so intense that all he could see was the bright white light.

He then completely lost consciousness.

After a while, Bale opened his eyes again. These were the eyes of a Lich which looked like a pair of faintly burning green flames. This light was different from before, though, because the body was now inhibited by someone else.

Not bad, thought the new Bale. The old geezer has been working hard. His strength has recovered so much in just a matter of months.

Bale didn’t understand what happened before he was knocked out, but it was actually related to the communication runes earlier.

The Dark Elf Silver Moon Council leader Manrod, a Level-8 Magician with unparalleled skills, was so far the strongest of all Magicians, second only to the Queen of High Elves.

With communication runes, Manrod could send voices into Bale’s mind. He could also naturally transmit other things into his mind as well, including, when the situation warranted it, a direct telepathic control of Bale’s body.

But this kind of control over Bale’s body came with great limitations as well, the most important one of which was time. It wasn’t that Bale’s body couldn’t withstand this method, instead, it was Manrod’s own soul that wouldn’t be able to tolerate the enormous load that this method would exert on him. If he ever exceeded his limits, his soul would immediately collapse.

I can only stay here for three days, thought Manrod. But the success of the Black Moon Conspiracy hinges on this plan, so I mustn’t waste it.

There was originally no need for him to undertake such a high-risk mission, but the plans had changed since the Norton Kingdom’s army had turned out to be so strong. The Dark Elves had suffered several consecutive defeats and lost many strategic advantages. If the war dragged on this way, it was possible that the Pralync Kingdom could never be saved even with the activation of the divine gear.

And so, here he was.

He combed through Bale’s memories and quickly grasped the situation in this prison tower.

It’s full of a bunch of idiots, Manrod thought with a bitter smile.

There was no use in talking reason with such idiots. What would’ve worked best was a show of superiority, power and confidence. They would quickly trust you if they’re convinced that you possessed these things, then they’d start to believe that you really could get them out of here.

Unfortunately, Bale lacked the strength to do this, so he was stuck with using reason to convince these idiots, which naturally would always result in bickering.

Manrod then checked the power that Bale’s body possessed, then he chose to once again cast the secret spell—Spiritual Nexus.

Spiritual Nexus

Level-6 Secret Spell

Effects: Constructs a very secretive communication network by connecting the spellcaster with the souls around him through mysterious Mana energy.

(Note: Do you want to communicate with people covertly? Then learn this spell.)

As soon as the spell was cast, Manrod noticed spots of light all around him. He knew that each of these light spots was a soul, and these souls were all of the prisoners in the Azura Tower.

These souls were connected to the network one by one, and each of their voices started to ring loudly in Manrod’s head.

“You bastard!” said a voice. “I was just in the middle of my sentence, why did you stop the damned spell?”

“You little bastard,” said another voice, “can someone like you really get us out of this shithole of a place?”

“Kid, I’m telling you,” said a different voice, “I can promise to cooperate with you, but if it involves releasing Tarviss, then I’m out!”

The voices all mingled together into a buzzing noise, but Manrod still stayed silent calm and only waited for the voices to settle down a bit before he chimed in.

“I won’t say much,” he finally said, “just take a look at this magic seal plan.” As he spoke, he transmitted the magic seal plan to each and every mind of the souls there.

“What is this damned thing?” said the ferocious magical creature. He only had faith in his fangs and claws, so he never cared about any magic seals or whatever this thing was.

The others were different, though. Most of the prisoners in Azura Tower were Magicians. The moment Manrod sent out the magic seal plan, these Magicians only had to take a glance at it before they understood its substance and gravity. In just a few seconds they all sank into a deep silence.

Yes, before they were captured and locked away in this cursed tower, most of these prisoners were the strongest and most gifted of their time. You could find Level-6 Master Magicians everywhere in this tower, there were even some Level-7 Master Magicians, although none of them were at Level-8. Still, the moment they saw the magic seal plan, most of them were dumbstruck.

For a long time, the noises in Manrod’s head were reduced by 90% as most of them stayed quiet.

About half an hour later, one Magician finally spoke up.

“With this thing, I’m sure we can finally get out of here,” he said.

“But Tarviss would still be released…” replied another.

“I don’t care about the academy,” said a different voice. “All I care is to get out of here!”

“I’ll participate in the plan!” said one eager prisoner.

“Hey, what the hell are you guys talking about?” asked the magical beast. “What are you participating in?” He could feel that this time they had a real plan that had a chance of success. This was an opportunity to regain freedom and roam the world again. As a magical creature with high intelligence, there was nothing he desired more than to breathe the air of freedom again. He could still remember the little female beast with her beautiful fur in the warm forest of the south. That soft body, that charming roar—he remembered every little detail even after centuries of imprisonment.

Manrod ignored the wild beast and continued to address the Magicians.

“If there are no objections,” he said, “then we’ll begin the operation tonight. Any questions?”

It was all silence for a moment in Manrod’s mind, then someone finally replied.

“Yes,” the voice said, “it would be best if we do this at night.”

“Agreed,” replied a chorus of voices.

“Hey, don’t forget about me!” said the beast. “Take me along with you, I’ll participate as well. What are we going to do? Hello?” The beast’s voice had lost its fierceness and became quite anxious now. It sounded as if everyone was leaving without him. He didn’t want to be left in this sodden place!

Even though they’d been fighting and bickering all along, they were still together for centuries now, how could they just leave him out of such a nice-sounding plan? That’s just cruel!

Still, no matter how hard he tried to voice his opinions, nobody paid any attention to him.

Then, suddenly, a hoarse voice rang through Manrod’s head.

“I won’t do it,” said the voice. “I’ll stay here. It’s not too bad in here, anyway.”

“Ha! Are you sure?” Manrod didn’t understand what the owner of the voice could possibly be thinking in making that decision.

“Yes, I’m sure,” said the voice, calm and resolute. He then added, “All of you do realize that this plan will annihilate the entire East Cove Magic Academy, don’t you? No, not only that, but after Tarviss is released, the whole Realm of Light would be turned to ashes and dust. I, Vance, may have committed more than a few crimes in the past, but I will never take part in a plan this evil. And you, are you sure you’re the same Bale that we heard before? You sound like two different people. What exactly is going on—”

Before Vance could finish his sentence, Manrod broke the connection of this soul to the network, thus his voice completely disappeared from everyone else’s minds.

“We’ll be fine without him,” said Manrod. “I for one want to get out of here. Who else is with me?”

“I am!”

“For freedom!”

“Hey, what about me?” the magical creature chimed in again, but still no one took any notice of him.

“Very well, then,” said Manrod. “We’ll begin the operation this midnight!”