Meanwhile, the situation outside is not as calm as it should be. Sure, the war was over. But the aftermath of death and slaughter is little more than cleaning and rebuilding. There was another issue, especially if the land is located near the sea.
"There's no end to this."
Rod shouted while splitting a Reaver cleanly in two. Only to be attacked by four more.
Currently, while Theon is going through his ordeal, Elara is seeking the help of every mage to locate him in the void. Marla is tending to the injured. Veryn tried contacting her mother to receive supplies quickly. That's when the current situation arose.
The rotting flesh of monsters attracted Abyssal Reavers towards the shore. Reavers are a native monster species living in the deep sea. They are a hybrid species capable of temporarily walking on land with their hind legs. Their serpent-like tail allows them to smoothly move through the water and attack their prey with shark-like jaws and inward rings of teeth.
Although they move very slowly on land, there were still hundreds of them. Kleines and Rod, accompanied by other adventurers, try to contain them and force them back into the sea. It was not as easy as it sounded.
"Screw it, I'm going serious"
Rod screamed and started infusing aura, only to vomit blood. While he was distracted, two Reavers jumped at him, only to be blocked by a huge shield.
"You're still recovering. Focus. It would really be embarrassing if the only disciple of the sword saint was killed by a Reaver."
Rod got back to his feet and raised his sword again. Then he widened his eyes.
"Wait, how do you-"
Kleines snorted.
"Oh, please. You keep talking about your sage-like master as if he is supposed to be revered. And every time you fight, you scream your weapon art, which starts with Saint Swordsmanship."
"I'm sure everyone in the blood wolf party knows. We just acted like we didn't realize because you were trying so hard to pretend"
Kleines replied while shrugging.
Rod sighed. And then spoke while looking at Kleines.
"Well, like you're the one to talk. That noble etiquette, and you knew a lot of things about the four main clans, which were not known to the public, you obviously are a noble. From the Stonehelm kingdom, no less."
Rod was expecting Kleines to be amazed. But he just gave a smirk.
"It was not like I was trying to hide anything. And if any of you asked, I would've answered truthfully."
Klines answered while bashing the heads of Reavers with his shield.
"My father was the younger brother of the current patriarch. He is my uncle."
Rod exhaled.
"So, you are freaking royalty. You are also the grandson of the Earth Shaker of seven zeniths. Is there anyone normal in our party?"
"Unlikely. I thought Adrian, or rather, Theon, was the most normal one among us. I was dead wrong."
Kleines replied. Rod was right. This is getting tiresome. If Theon were here, He would've come up with a plan like putting all the corpses in a floating vessel and packing it with explosives, and sending it to the sea. But these ideas only come to them when it is too late.
After a few hours, they were done with the Reavers and were about to go back. But another wave of Reavers started to appear from the sea. Kleines and Rod were about to go back to the shore while cursing, but they felt a strong presence.
They did not feel any ill intent. But the Reavers suddenly started screaming in fear and ran towards the sea. But that was a mistake. The sea near the shore suddenly stilled, literally. It completely froze, along with the Reapers. The temperature did not change, which was weird.
"I heard the new generation was filled with prodigies. But it took this long to deal with a bunch of worms. Tsk tsk."
The voice belonged to a black-haired man who levitated in the sky. He slowly landed on the ground. He was wearing a sleeveless shirt and had a dragon tattoo on his left hand. People who recognized him gasped. Rod was about to ask who he was, but Kleines stopped with a hand on his shoulder.
He bowed in front of the man and spoke.
"We are honored to be in your presence, Lord Magnus Ignisborne."
........................
No one has ever returned from the void after this long. But those who actually managed to survive described it in many different ways. Sometimes, it was an endless chasm; other times, it was a never-ending dense forest wrapped in darkness. There was no specific logic behind how they perceived the void.
For Elara, it was a wasteland marred by snowstorms. She could barely see ahead. Even if it was just her conciseness, she physically felt the cold for some reason. Her mana, and the mana she borrowed from other mages, is fading fast. The plan was to find Theon and make a connection with him via her conciseness. Then she can transmit the location to the outside, and they can open a portal directly where Theon is and bring him back.
She kept moving towards where she felt his presence. She could see a light. A cyan color light, as if a beacon signaling her. She could see a silhouette of a man, which she assumed was Theon.
Her mana and endurance were fading fast. But she somehow made it to where he was, gazing at an incomprehensible scene. Theon was on his knees, his back straight. Horseman was also there, his head missing. Elara did not pay any attention and looked properly at Theon. There were cyan colored runic symbols on his body, flickering. He had an emblem on his left arm. He was in a trance. His eyes were shining brightly in emerald color.
Elara, with her trembling hand, touched his face. But just as she made contact, her mana ran out, cancelling the spell and waking her up.
She was exhausted after waking up, mana and endurance drained to the dot. Nearby, all the mages were also in a drained state. Marla came up behind her and started using holy magic.
"Elara, did you find him?"
She asked nervously.
Elara, who was panting, gave a brief nod. Runic symbols floated above her palm.
"I found him. He is still alive. I also got his coordinates. After everyone is recovered, we can open a po-"
They were suddenly interrupted by a loud bang. A figure suddenly dropped from the sky, raising everyone's awareness. A black-haired man. Besides him, two figures were passed out on the ground. They were Rod and Kleines.
"Not bad. That's quite an interesting spell you used. Mana controlling was also flawless. You are better than your dad when he was your age."
He spoke while smirking. Elara and Marla immediately recognized who he was. A black-haired man with a dragon tattoo on his left arm. It's hard not to recognize him.
"These two brats are also good. They were able to last for 5 minutes against me."
He then instantly disappeared and appeared in front of Elara, and took a look at the symbols floating on her hand.
"Good work, kid. Now leave the rest to me. It's about time I had a talk with my idiot grandson."
Before anyone could even understand what he was talking about, Magnus started levitating in the air. Then he flew towards a specific area high in the air.
The next second, the ground started trembling violently. The dragon tattoo started glowing and black flames erupted, completely engulfing his left and. All the structures, trees, lakes, and puddles on his left side started freezing and frosting. Blazing white flames appeared on his right arm, raising the surrounding temperature.
With a crazy smirk, Magnus put his arms together, tore apart the fabric of reality as if ripping a paper in half, creating a portal into the void in an absurd way.