Chapter 182: Discussion and Decision
Flamme rushed to him. "Teacher Rhodes, you're back. Where did you go?" She had, of course, noticed his sudden departure.
"To find the demon's commander," he said.
"And did you?"
Serie slowly descended, the magical glow around her fading, her expression returning to its usual cool indifference, as if the magical storm she had just unleashed was the work of another.
"No. He was too fast. It was Shurahat."
His words were brief and to the point. His gaze swept over the battlefield, at the craters and the scorched earth. The elven miss had been thorough.
At the sound of the name 'Shurahat', her eyes narrowed, a cold flicker of disgust in their depths. She remembered him, the demon she had fought two hundred years ago. In her long, long life, there had been only a few demons who had made her take them seriously, and he, the one who had been able to hold his own against her, the one who had not even revealed his true name... he was one of them.
And even now, his refusal to tell them his name made her suspicious. It was only later that Rhodes had somehow confirmed his name, but she hadn't bothered to question it.
"That aura... it was him, wasn't it?" she said. "He was far away. He must have used some kind of spell." She, too, had felt his presence, but had been too far away to react. And she had been more focused on the demons in front of her. But he... he had gone after him.
"It was like an improved version of the detection spell," he added. "I felt a familiar magical formula. And it seems he can see things as well. He must have recognized me and used a teleportation spell to escape."
"No wonder you couldn't catch him," she said, a hint of a sarcastic smile on her lips. "Heh heh. It seems you left quite an impression on him, two hundred years ago." To have made a great demon so afraid... he was probably the only one in the world who could do such a thing. "So what now? If he just hides for another two hundred years, it will be a problem."
"It's fine. He can't hide this time." He turned to her, his voice now grim. "For him to have launched such an attack, to have personally commanded it... I am now even more certain that he was just trying to stall us. And with that dark fluctuation I felt from before... I have a feeling his true target is the Kingdom of Ersten." He didn't tell her everything, his own theory that their true target was the 'Light of Ersten' itself. He needed more information.
"The Kingdom of Ersten?" she asked, her brow furrowed.
"Yes," he said. "Whether my theory is correct or not, we have to go there. Even if I'm wrong, we can still check on the situation."
The holy sword that held a thousand years of human faith... it was a vital part of his own plans. And with the demons so active... there was nothing wrong with checking on it.
"Alright," she agreed without a moment's hesitation. They had been planning to go there anyway, before the attack. "So how do we get there? If the situation is urgent, flying will be too slow."
She thought for a moment, and then looked at him. "I remember... in Ersten, Norne had a large-scale teleportation anchor point secretly built. It's been a long time, but if the core runes haven't been damaged, we should be able to connect to it and teleport directly to the capital."
"Is that so? How come you never told me?"
"Because we've never needed it. He had it built in case the kingdom ever faced a disaster that even the holy sword couldn't solve, as a way for his people to escape. But ever since he founded it, the kingdom has been at peace. And so the teleportation circle has just been sitting there, unused."
"I see," he said, a frown on his face. "But a teleportation of that scale... the mana cost would be enormous. Even the two of us together couldn't possibly power it. And even if we were to force it... there's no telling what we'd find on the other side." To drain all their mana just to teleport... it was too risky. What if they ran into a powerful enemy on the other side? They would be completely defenseless.
Her gaze did not leave his, and a knowing look came over her face. She looked down, to the hilt of Org, and her lips curled into a teasing smile. "Are you forgetting something? Isn't that a mobile power source you have hanging at your waist?"
He immediately understood and instinctively put a hand on his scabbard. The "power source" she was referring to was the holy relic stone slab he had found in the dwarven ruins, the slab that contained an immense amount of mana. In the years since, he had secretly sought out the greatest of the dwarven master smiths and had had them, at a great cost and over a long period of time, forge it into the core of Org's scabbard. It had now, in the truest sense of the word, become one with the holy sword.
"Use the power of the scabbard to power the teleportation circle?" he said, a hint of hesitation in his voice. The stored mana of the holy relic... it was his last resort, a trump card for when he had to unleash his own 'Curry Stick' without reservation.
"What else?" she said, raising an eyebrow. "Are you expecting the dwarves to give you the mana you need? Or do you want to fly, and give Shurahat's underlings all the time they need to carry out his plan?"
He was silent for a moment. To use the power of the scabbard... it meant using up one of his trump cards. But she was right. They were out of time. If his theory was correct, he had to get to Ersten as quickly as possible.
"I understand," he finally said. "But we won't use all of its power. The mana in the scabbard is too pure; we don't need that much to power the teleportation circle. To overdo it could even damage the anchor point."
He looked at her and laid out his own plan. "I'll use a portion of the stored mana to activate the circle. And the rest... we will provide a part, and then we can have Lord Balin get the other mages in Weiburg to make up the difference. That way, we can ensure a quick activation, and save our own mana, so that we are not weakened when we arrive."
It was a good plan, both efficient and relatively safe.
"Alright," she said with a nod. "Let's do it."
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