NOVEL NEXT Chapter 35: Chapter 26 - Concern
CHAPTER 26 - CONCERN
"Elder Rinia, if what I say could be a life or death situation, why not tell me why? I mean I am entirely out of your visions ever since we met three years ago, even though you told me that the shadow is no longer there. What is it that you guys called it? The King's Shadow?" I stood up in the heat of the moment. Of course from someone else's perspective, it was going to be something else, like it didn't make sense. Not for me.
I didn't know what was going to happen from now on, now that I've gotten this power. Everything was going to change. The balance, the settings, the war.
Yet, I made my decision a long time ago but I needed to confirm it. To know that I wasn't going down the wrong path.
"So tell me, Rinia Darcassan. Tell me what would the situation be if I moved that purple mote? Would the world come to an end? Or would I become a target for those asura's just like how Mordain and his clan have been for god knows how long?" I took a second and let my words sink into the air. Maybe this was a way to let things off my chest, but I know it wasn't the best one. "I am not an otherworldly being. How many times do I have to say it? I'm no asura, no pantheon, no phoenix, no dragon, no elf, no dwarf, no djinn. I am only a human mage, Elder Rinia. If I was actually someone of strength for this continent, then I wouldn't be here, I'd be in the front lines, in the dungeons, making it safe for adventurers to make a living, to make sure there isn't anything that could damage our continent. But I am only human. Not some nonsense that you guys call King's Shadow."
Without noticing, my mana had riled up to the point where I had almost shown her that power. I felt agitation, if she actually saw it then she might not know what is in store for the future.
This power is something I can't show yet. Not now. If I did, things would go out of hand, many will be targeted, and for me to be sure, I need to use it to its full potential. Not only that, now that "The King's Shadow" hasn't appeared in a while, that means that she can't see into my future and see what power I have.
That was enough.
I walked towards the door, not looking back on the old elf. Opened the door and without looking back but rather towards the poor lighting outside the house symbolizing that it was already evening, I said, "I truly think that your actions are something that I can rely on, Elder Rinia. However, if you can't tell me what exactly that means or what could change just because of a purple mote, I don't think I can tell you whether or not I moved that purple mote. Until then, Elder Rinia."
As I was about to go through the door, I heard her faint voice with guilt written all over her voice. "I'm sorry Luke."
The door closed and became the sole thing between me and the elf.
I let my feet take me wherever they wanted to go towards, all while I inhaled the cold air around me and tried to understand Rinia's motives. My eyes gazed above me, watching the top of the trees move opposite to me, covering the night sky that I was so eager to witness once more.
Nevertheless, my mind only occupied the sole reason to train harder, to exceed my weakness and become stronger. Of course, I had pushed this thought aside. "Not today. Not today," I muttered quietly before looking upon the guards that had brought me in the carriage before.
When I got closer, their attention was towards me. "Welcome, young Luke. Will that be it for today?" One guard ask while the other opened the door to the carriage
I pondered, surely it wasn't all. There was still some time before we left to Sapin, still, how long or how much longer? Perhaps we still had time for one more raid. "Yeah I have one more stop."
***
The long and dark roads leading into multiple entrances where mana beasts laid, dormant and aggressive. Many adults and teens wouldn't dare to go down, unless they had a good reason for it like the money being needed. Better in choice, it would be materials for their equipment or medicine.
Yet, neither of those options went for me right now. For the moment, my main objective was something else.
Equipment was just light leather armor for me to walk and fight without having any restrictions, even my weapon wasn't long, considered by everyone a short sword. It was the best thing I could hold. Of course I could conjure a sort of magic sword to suit my style but it would take too much mana to maintain it stable.
"Hopefully they are here," I muttered while conjuring a fireball on my left hand for lighting in this damn dark cave system. Three feet wasn't visible without light, and with light, six feet max.
I felt eager to get where they were, but more importantly, I was more eager to fight mana beasts than anything else. The tightening in my grip for my sword, the emotions of excitement coursing through my body.
This was finally the time to try this power against something that could give me a hard time. I thought, needlessly pushing other thoughts into the back of my mind. Being so eager, I began to run instead of walking at a slow pace.
This feeling was like how other kids back in my old world would react upon being given a slip form
for a field trip that was most talked about within the childrens' group.
The narrowed paths of the cave system I was following became more tight, it had been some time since I had started this walk towards the dungeon cave. Searching for any enemies to defeat with this newly found power that I wielded.
Suddenly, I felt a surge of mana in front of me, making me instinctively deactivate my torch and bind my sword with mana. There was something deep down telling me to say something, but the other side of me, the more logical one, told me that I should just stay quiet and approach whatever threw me that slowly.
Wind started to form around me, allowing me to speed up my process of getting to the designated place to meet up. I doubt there will be a beast that can take them out. I rather not take chances.
I cleared up my mind, having positive thoughts of the current situation, when two silhouettes appeared in my field of vision. My feet instantly locked with the floor, scraping off a couple meters of dirt as I slid. In the stance, I waited for a signal.
And almost like they knew, both turned around. Their aura riled up in aggressiveness, like they were trying to kill me. That is when I knew I had to let them know it was me.
Letting some of the newly found power out into the atmosphere did only their mana signature calm down.
"Luke, your hiding skills have become more… adequate." Aya spoke, eliminating the remaining mist on her hand with a motion.
"I told Aya that it was you in the beginning but she didn't listen, sorry Luke." Alea said right after, letting out a sigh of defeat. Kneeling down the edge looking over it, a concerned expression written over her face.
"It was to test you. Now why did you bring us here–"
"I think I know why." The white haired elf spoke, gazing at a camp full with mana beast and people.
About sixty to seventy people were on this camp-like base, surrounded by mana beasts. They were not being attacked, instead, they were protecting them. A giant snake with two heads and a giant horn like those rabbits in the Elshire Forest. Though this time, it was more of a snake than a small little rabbit that we can eat in a campfire.
What is going on? Why would mana beasts help moreover protect some people or adventurers who hunt them for money and materials?
So why are they–
"These people are not from Dicathen."
"What are you talking about, Alea?"
She took a second to respond, almost like she wanted to make sure she was right. "Their mana signature is different from ours, no. Their mana leaks from them like they are unstable but yet they are still healthy."
"...And let's not talk about the mana beasts protecting them," I announced, pointing out the obvious situation these snakes had going on. If I was correct, there was a part in the novel where these beasts are found. All I needed to do was remember where and by who.
For all that, my productive mind was put on stop, seeing as the two Lances jumped down the edge and into the base camp. Aya had used her sound deviant magic to blind those inside the camp and the beasts alike, while Alea sneaked her vines into the beast's body and killed them.
It was amazing. Seeing the two elven Lances fight together after times where they couldn't.
I wonder how it would look if all the lances fought together.
My thoughts were simplistic and very hopeful, but they were quickly cut off by the loud thud where the camp resided.
Immediately, I threw myself into the action as well. Guarding myself with mana and using wind magic to lessen my fall. I knew that I couldn't let my guard down now, there could be more mana beasts and even adventurers that kill people for their loot.
Hopefully it's just the first one. I thought, my worry and concern slipping through my grip of my weapon which shook as I could barely contain my mana aura around the blade.
On my right side–where the loud bang came from–unveiled a mana beast that had been sent there flying by one of the lances. Being held down by green vines with thorns, alien blood slithered off the beast's body while it struggled hard against the vines that even I thought it was going to rip through the vines with ease, but I was wrong.
It died down when the mist had covered it entirely and a second later, no noise came from it. Rather than its screams of pain, the only noise it came after the mist cleared was the thud of its head falling to the ground.
What was I expecting? Lances are strong after all. I reminded myself with a mental chuckle.
"Are you guys okay?"
"The mana beasts will no longer be a concern of yours."
The people who had been inside the tents came out with weapons and armor different from ours, it was darker, like a dark purple but it was glossy. I noticed one of the adventurer's had their armor open from the back, more specifically, their spine.
That is when I realized when that Two-headed snake was spotted from. Alea had spotted it before she was sent reinforcements and just before she met Uto the retainer who was responsible for her death.
Realization hit me like a truck. Arthur had said somewhere in the novel that there were Alacryan's in this continent even before they knew about them. He wasn't wrong, no. It had just been me who had forgotten about the facts enlisted in the novel as it went on.
I gritted my teeth in a sense of frustration. It wasn't towards anyone, but rather myself.
Aya and Alea were getting closer to the Alacryan's. The lances didn't know about their formation of battle, but I did.
My mana core pushed half of the mana inside, into my body to support my offensive dash towards the enemy. At the same time, I conjured a wind spell on my left hand, ready to unleash it upon the horned enemy.
When being just a few meters from an Alacryan mage–presumenly a Striker–I unleashed a barrage of crescent wind spells as an attack. The first two wind crescents managed to hit the armored demon but the rest were deflected by the bubble shield conjured by someone in the back. A Shield.
"Luke what was that for–"
"Aya, Alea, stay on guard, they are not Dicathen natives!" I cut off the white haired lance without taking my eyes off enemy soldiers. "These people are not Dicathians, more like they were never in the beginning…" I trailed off, thinking but at the same time not, of what magic spell I should use next.
Using my brain was a big play in battle if I wanted to become strong, but instinct was something I relied on more. I guess that gives me the solution. I thought. There was only one thing I wanted to try for so long but was hesitant to. Considering the toll of its usage to my body, I had no choice but to try and forget about it. However, things were different.
Now, I was going to make my first move against this Fate entity and cause a butterfly effect in the future. The timeline that I knew was going to change the moment I met the lances of the Elven Kingdom.
Lightning poured from my left arm after the wind left immediately. I stepped on the ground like I was squishing an ant and erupted the ground behind the Striker, blinding the Shield from its target. I intended to form a javelin out of the lightning but failed to do so, my concentration towards lightning wasn't good enough but it was just above enough for me to throw it directly into the Striker's face.
The deafening sound of the lightning as it went to its target made my ears bleed but it wasn't at the level of leaving me deaf. The strongest mages in the continent took a second to realize that I wasn't lying and joined me.
"You better explain after we are done." Aya said, disappearing into her mist magic.
I nodded in response. "Still, be careful. Their formation of battle isn't the same as ours, they need multiple people and could be a pain for one to deal with a group." I declared. my legs were weak from using too much mana in one moment while my left hand felt hard to put into a fist.
Dammit… If only I knew how to use Mana Rotation things would be much easier.
The Striker that had taken the lightning attack head on was missing a limb. The Shield and the Sentry tried to heal the Striker but it was all in the wrong decision. Because soon after their heads landed on the stone cold ground without warning.
Seeing this, the Caster tried to save himself by using other Alacryan's as bait while he tried to escape. Nevertheless I mentally called him an idiot. Trying to run from the dicathen's most powerful mages was a mistake on his part.
The only ones remaining were a couple of Sentries and two Shields. Without their striker, the shields didn't have anyone to cover or look after. As for the Sentrys, they are no longer given command by the Striker and they have all died by the lances hands.
I only killed, perhaps well put, mortally injured one before Aya and Alea killed the rest, like they were using the poor striker as bait to bring in more.
"Save them for last."
"How about you take them in for questioning? Maybe use one of your most famous torturers to get some information out of them. Information about–"
"Information about the other continent."
Both lances and even the Alacryans who were scared at the sight of the lances became even more terrified at the mention of another continent. Their unnatural colored eyes widened and their face lost color.
"The question is how are they here…"