Volume 3 Chapter 113 Dark Clouds
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
After finishing the meeting with Yelmar, they returned to their base, a camp in the forest.
The campsite, transformed by Sarah’s magic, was a comfortable forest clearing with a nearby spring. In the clearing, there were makeshift homes for each member──5 in total──but Ninini’s was barely used. Since rescuing Rean, she had been tending to him in his bed without rest.
Upon entering the barrier, as usual, Ninini’s magic power was emanating from Rean’s house.
Kian knocked and entered Rean’s home, then detailed the contents of the meeting with Yelmar to Ninini, who was organizing tools beside the fireplace.
Upon hearing from Sarah that Vestacia might be imprisoned in an ancient temple, Ninini stood up from her chair and began to tidy up the tools she had spread out for maintenance.
”We’ll go save her right away-nya!”
”Please wait. You’re not planning to charge in alone, are you?”
Sarah spoke with a slight hunch in her posture, conveying her discomfort.
The house, designed for one, was quite cramped.
Kian opened the door but did not enter, instead leaning against the doorway.
Emerging from behind Sarah, he spoke to Ninini.
”The area around the ancient temple seems to have become a lair for the Bloodsucking Kind. They’re sensitive to the scent of blood, so if Ms. Ninini were to approach, they’d swarm her all at once.”
”So what do we do-nya? You can’t expect me to just sit here twiddling my thumbs-nya.”
”I’m not saying that, but charging in without a plan is unwise.”
”As expected, experience speaks.”
”Sarah, I’ve reflected on charging into the swamp alone. Don’t keep bringing up the past.”
”If I don’t remind you regularly, you’ll charge in again, won’t you?”
”I won’t…”
”Can’t we just deal with the Bloodsucking Kind-nya? If we burn something they hate the smell of──”
Sarah shook her head at the desperate Ninini.
”We might have exceeded the number that can be avoided with monster-repelling scent. Also, the ancient temple is likely turned into Barghest’s magic workshop. Even after escaping the Bloodsucking Kind swarm and entering, there’s a real risk of getting caught in traps inside and being trapped.”
”Is there any way to fix this-nya? Sarah, your magic could quickly break the workshop’s traps, right? You’re a skilled magician-nya!”
”Sorry. My power cannot do that.”
”Nya-nya-nya!? Sarah, you’re someone who can easily create such a crazy otherworld. If anyone can do it, it’s you-nya! Don’t give up from the start. Please make it happen-nya!”
Ninini begs, grabbing Sarah’s shoulder.
Kian speaks up, replacing Sarah’s silent look of regret.
”If it’s a workshop built over the ancient temple’s underground Spiritual Vein, we can install many defense systems that ignore magic power consumption. To break that from outside with brute force, you’d need firepower like Lord Oswald at dawn──absolutely impossible for Sarah.”
”Then, t-then what do we do-nya?”
”That’s what we’re about to discuss now.”
”Ms. Ninini, first of all, we can’t move from this base.”
Serena says that, then Ninini turns to look back at Rean, lifeless on the bed, as if she’s just realized something.
”Ah…”
”Just like when we helped Mr. Rean, we can’t split into 2 groups. Only Ms. Sarah can activate Mr. Rean’s tachyonian cells. So if we split into 2 teams, Ms. Sarah will definitely stay behind. But──”
”Except for Sarah, no one else can rewrite the control of the Spiritual Vein in the ancient temple. I have to dive in, break all the traps, and forcefully destroy the magic circuit in the core with the Windsong Blade ── that’s pretty much all I can do.”
”While struggling to clear the traps, we might get noticed by Barghest and get ambushed. Kian and Ms. Sarah might handle it, but Ms. Sarah needs to stay here. So either I or Ms. Ninini have to completely break the magic circuit in the temple’s core.”
”We need someone to stay with Sarah. While she gathers Elixir materials, someone has to watch over Rean.”
After nodding at Kian’s suggestion, Serena looked back at Ninini.
”Can Ms. Ninini destroy the core’s magic circuit while Kian keeps the Wolfmen fighters busy? Honestly, I can’t. It’s frustrating, but our firepower isn’t enough.”
”Nya…”
”There are 2 options.”
Kian held up 2 fingers.
”First, bring a magician here who can interfere with the Spiritual Vein of the ancient temple. Second, build or find a teleportation gate connecting to Erynys’ ancient temple where Ms. Priscilla is waiting.”
”I see! Calling for backup via teleportation gate is a good idea-nya! Sarah, can you confirm the coordinates of our current location-nya?”
”Yes, I can. But the flow of the Spiritual Vein here is very fierce, so opening a teleportation gate is dangerous.”
Sarah snapped her fingers and placed a clumsy diagram on the rocky table.
”Long-distance teleportation is a magic that uses the Spiritual Vein to transport atomized human bodies to the destination. It mainly involves constructing a ritual to connect the Spiritual Vein and the gate activation point, and another ritual to move in a specific direction within the Spiritual Vein.”
”It’s like diverting an instant waterway from a large river and then traveling by boat, right-nya?”
”Yes, but in the Great Forest area north of Erynys’s ancient temple, the Spiritual Vein flows like a rapid. Entering the rapids would scatter the atomized human body, and it can’t be reconstituted once it exits the Spiritual Vein.”
Technically, Kian and Sarah might not be completely out of luck.
They could end up just their heads on the other side, but if they can somehow regrow their flesh, they could recover. However, ending up as just a head would be critical for Kian or Sarah, and the likelihood of dying is high.
In Rean’s case, of course, he would simply die.
The same goes for the healing staff on the other side.
”But, if we build a few dams within the Spiritual Vein’s flow to slow it down and construct a travel route, we might be able to make it across. In this case, we can’t open the gate manually. Preparations like constructing the magic array and securing the Spiritual Vein’s flow are necessary.”
”Remember, when we came here, the rich who had been using the ancient temple of Erynys as a lair had already set up the teleportation facility for us.”
”Yeah, the rich destroyed the teleportation array at the last minute, but the fixtures were mostly intact, so it was easy to repair.”
”But even after the repairs, the teleportation gates were quite unstable. Considering Ms. Lyritisse’s failed teleportation, it seems there were several bolts missing, and the safety mechanism of the teleportation formation activated to forcibly end the teleportation spell. Us being able to teleport here might actually have been quite lucky.”
Sarah turned to Kian and Serena, tightening her grip.
Ninini made a difficult face and floated a question mark above her head.
”So, we can’t teleport-nya?”
”We could if we construct the facility, but we can’t manually open it. Everyone would die.”
”Then let’s build it quickly-nya! Construct a dam in the flow of the Spiritual Vein? And then build the teleportation formation-nya?”
”Yes, but it will take a considerable amount of time. It’s essentially like crossing the forest. We’ll be working on embedding bolts into the Spiritual Vein that extends to the end of the Great Forest.”
”I’m in the process of contacting Ms. Priscilla to see if she can move here while also embedding bolts from the other side. It can’t be done by Ms. Priscilla alone; we’ll have to wait for the decision of the Izerland government.”
”Hey, wait-nya. So, it takes an incredibly long time to build a teleportation gate from scratch-nya?”
”Yes, it does.”
Sarah nodded and continued.
”So, as an alternative plan, we could search for an already constructed teleportation formation from the swamp area to the ancient temple of Erynys and reuse it. If we can find the location of the Spiritual Vein or even just one bolt, we can work backwards to pinpoint the starting and ending points of the teleportation formation.”
Barghest had set up a workshop in the ancient temple of Erynys.
There was a teleportation circle to Nordende in the ancient temple, but the reverse, a gate from Nordende to Erynys’ ancient temple, should also exist, so Barghest can’t move there otherwise.
When the workshop was destroyed, the teleportation gate from Nordende was likely destroyed too, but since removing all the wedges is hard, they probably left it alone.
If that’s the case, we can figure out where the teleportation circle is based on the positions of the unused wedges, fix the circle, and restore some wedges to bring back the teleportation device so we can go back.
”If we can return through teleportation, I plan to send Mr. Rean and Ms. Ninini back, then it’s just me, Kian, and Ms. Serena heading to rescue Ms. Vestacia.”
”I also want to go help Vest──nya.”
”Someone has to teleport with Mr. Rean. Considering roles and strength, if Ms. Ninini stays, then Ms. Serena will accompany Mr. Rean.”
”Alright. If I find and rebuild the teleportation circle, I’ll bring Mr. Rean back.”
”Sorry for always putting all the behind-the-scenes work on you.”
”No, I’ll do my best with what I can. If Ms. Ninini is part of the rescue team, Ms. Vestacia will be safe too ── it’s about matching skills to tasks.”
”W-wait…!”
Just then, a raspy voice suddenly spoke from behind Ninini.
Kian looked over to see Rean, with a pale blue face, sitting up from a moss-covered bed.
”I-I’ll go too. I have to help Vest.”
”Rean, with that body, it’s impossible-nya.”
”If only my body heals, I can fight. I won’t be a burden to you.”
”You already are-nya.”
”Slay the monsters,”
Rean pushes aside the blanket and swings his legs over the side of the bed, turning his body sideways.
”And gather the souls. ────Fill the Horn Cup, and I shall be resurrected.”
”What do you mean?”
Sarah glares down at Rean with icy eyes.
After looking up at Sarah’s face, Rean awkwardly averts his gaze.
”Slay the monsters, and I shall recover. …That’s all.”
”Is the Horn Cup the thing around your neck?”
”……”
As Sarah presses, Rean protectively covers the pitch-black Horn Cup necklace he crafted from Black Onyx.
”Please, if you can, tell us about your situation.”
”…….I’m sorry, I can’t… It would help if you didn’t pry too much.”
”I see. I apologize for the impertinent question.”
”No…”
”Rean,”
Kian calls out to the withering young man with golden hair.
”You say ‘slay monsters,’ but you can’t right now. Your tachyonian cells are inactive, so you need to reactivate them first.”
”I know that. If I just had a bit of magic power, I could hunt monsters──”
”You’ll die if you face a monster like that-nya. Just get back in bed-nya.”
”Ugh…”
”By the way, I want to ask, Rean, do you know where Ms. Vestacia is?”
Rean shakes his head from side to side.
”I don’t know. I… lost consciousness. …But, if my strength returns, I can track her.”
”How?”
”That is… maybe, by instinct.”
After wandering his gaze, Rean utters a cryptic remark.
This seems futile.
”For you, let’s start by having you drink the Elixir to activate your tachyonian cells and see how it goes. By the time we finds the teleportation gate, we might be able to move a little.”
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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