Elder Flock and the young woman beside him dazedly stood in the open land in front of them and bloodied ruins behind them. The sight was like the difference between heaven and hell.
"Emilia, you said that you sensed a disturbance in the spatial integrity of the main plane here in this particular location?", Elder Flock asked.
If others saw his demeanor, they would question how unnaturally calm this old man was even though the sky looked like the world was about to end.
Furthermore, Emilia, the young woman accompanying him, wasn't worried about the thing above. Rather, the spatial disturbance mentioned by Elder Flock concerned her more than anything else.
She raised both of her silky long hands whose thin arms were covered by the long sleeve of her dark-blue robe. The space in front rippled as if someone threw a rock on the calm water of a lake.
"It's not the only disturbance I felt, master. There is another one nearby but the scale is smaller."
Emilia had to thank the person responsible for the large meteor in the sky earlier. She guessed that because of the pressure that the spell emitted, whatever hid this disturbance must have worn off, causing her to notice the anomaly in the spatial integrity of this location.
'What a strong concealment technique. Those demonic creatures are surely putting all of their efforts into this, eh?'
Elder Flock briefed her on what was happening in the northern glacial continent. Surprisingly for the old man, the adventurous young girl easily agreed.
"I see. You seem too eager to fix this disturbance. Don't you think your curiosity could turn out worse?", Elder Flock warned.
"Well, I don't think it would be that dangerous, master.", Emilia reasoned, intriguing the old man.
"Remember the army of warriors led by the High King of Norva Assili? I think they're on the other isolated side, master."
"Isolation?", Elder Flock knew what she meant but he was confused.
"Probably because they want to mess with the balance of power? The demonic creatures were careful of High King Garron's power so they may have targeted him and tried to use the plane isolation techniques to force his cards out of the table."
Emilia was unsure, "Though I think my and your presence here wasn't part of their plans. Otherwise, they would have considered this step."
Emilia was a spatial magic user and the only one to have ever existed in Aludia with an innate affinity to space, one of the most mysterious concepts in the world of magic.
In front of a spatial magic user, tricks like spatial isolation weren't worth a sweat, though the cracks above were a problem that Emilia wouldn't quickly solve given its scale.
Furthermore, she had another reason for not solving the crack problem for now.
"Master, I'm going to fix the isolated plane now. Look out for me if things go wrong, just like the old times, hehehe…", Emilia mischievously giggled, darkening the old man's expression.
He extremely hated the part where he was the one to fix this spoiled brat's mess.
'You're a damn academy master of one of the best magic academies yet you're acting childish! Unbelievable!'
Elder Flock was losing his mind.
Although Emilia was the most talented human he had ever met second to Dartex and Eluard, her behavior and personality were a little off.
"Hmm? Monarch-level beasts?"
He was too focused on Emilia's discovery that he forgot their presence ever since he arrived here.
'So the beasts decided to attack us now… eh?'
Elder Flock saw two draconic figures landing not far away from them.
"Damn it, master! Don't tell me they're the beasts you were talking about earlier?", Emilia panicked.
She wouldn't be able to do anything about the anomaly if an archmage and a powerful beast clashed with one another.
"Hmm, I don't feel the usual aggression. I'll see what they're up to. Continue with your work.", Elder Flock waved his hands and simultaneously set up a strong protective barrier.
He walked forward and greeted the two transfigured dragons.
"What does the two of you bring here, may I know?"
"So you're really an elder from the League.", Arahon, the red-skinned dragon said.
Elder Flock narrowed his eyes, wondering what Arahon meant by that.
"I'll be blunt, have you seen a bunch of northern barbarians, archmage?", Harrtugg Naaw inquired.
Elder Flock was alerted, "Oh, you're looking for them?"
"Don't be so guarded against us. We're not here to fight. We're here to seek cooperation.", Arahon explained.
"You expect me to believe you easily?", Elder Flock didn't believe their stories. A bunch of savages wanted to speak with them?
"After seeing this, you will."
Arahon lowered his head and showed to Elder Flock the glistening mark on the top of his forehead. The flame dragon was certain that the old man would recognize it.
After all, the League stored vast knowledge and information concerning the existence of the Heavenly Magic Academy and the history of the magical beasts.
Shocked, Elder Flock pointed, "That is-, the mark of allegiance! You were also sent here by the Heavenly Magic Academy?!"
The two dragons were dumbfounded, particularly Arahon.
"Also? Old man, don't tell me you were approached by them as well?"
Elder Flock realized that he misspoke but he thought that it was better this way.
"If we were sent here together for the same reason, then that would make things easy."
Arahon agreed, "Indeed.", retracting the mark on his forehead.
"What about that guy beside you? Are they in as well? You should know that the magical beasts in this region are assimilating a huge force to attack the northerners."
Arahon laughed, "Don't worry about it, old man.", patting Harrtugg Naaw's back, "This guy is no longer in that state that you are so worried about."
"The beasts are already taken care of, that's why we're here to talk about establishing a temporary alliance to fight that thing above together."
"Yeah… he is right…", Harrtugg Naaw embarrassingly replied.
Elder Flock eased up, knowing that monarch-level beasts like the two in front of him wouldn't lie about such a thing. Moreover, he reckoned that the red dragon was foreign and was assigned by the academy to suppress the magical beasts.
Meanwhile, he and Emilia, through Eluard, were assigned to deal with the problem of the spreading undead essence.
Their chance meeting could be considered a coincidence. Neither party expected the Otherworld to go for a more serious move, such as the demonic invasion presented above.
"Since that is the case, I'll agree to cooperate with you.", Elder Flock turned around and gestured for the two to follow him.
"The two of us are similarly looking for the presence of the northern barbarians as well. My student, Emilia, has observed several anomalies in the spatial integrity in this location and another one nearby."
"She thinks that the demonic creatures have isolated the planes, trapping the warriors or whoever was inside."
Arahon and Harrtugg Naaw observed the young man who closed her eyes and was sweating all over.
"Is she trying to fix the anomaly and rescue whoever is trapped on the other side?"
Elder Flock nodded to the flame dragon's question.
"Then what about reinforcements? Does the League or the Knights know of the situation around here?", Harrtugg Naaw worried.
It was certain death if they face the invasion alone.
"That's not necessary."
Arahon was flabbergasted by Elder Flock's response, "What do you mean by not necessary?! Old man, that is the fucking Otherworld we are talking about!"
"My student is a spatial magic user and she told me that the demonic creatures had locked up the entire region away from the Aludia. Even if you screamed with all your might, the people outside won't hear our cry for help."
"Also, since they locked up the place, those demonic creatures wouldn't be able to pass in anything stronger than a king-level beast or a graferhal."
Elder Flock was confident in his assessment. A smaller plain couldn't contain the more powerful beings or else it would collapse and possibly kill the intruder, and further implicate the world where the intruder came from.
Furthermore, he had the impression that the demonic creatures had meticulously planned everything. It appears that they were intended in doing something and that something was not a one-sided massacre of either side.
'They're probably testing the waters and see how their enemies would react.'
That was the elder's conclusion after piecing up his experiences in the past few days.
Him capturing Dartex and them failing to trail his smell has already exposed the fact that the Heavenly Magic Academy has returned.
Of course, he didn't expect beforehand that the academy would be shorthanded in manpower. Otherwise, the succeeding events wouldn't have mattered regardless if the Otherworld knew of it or not.
During their conversation, they noticed the space beside them warping strangely and emitting indescribable sounds.
"Master, stay back!", Emilia warned.
The three people backed a hundred meters away.
Emilia then circled both her hands counterclockwise before weaving some signs. Simultaneously, 9 large transparent magic circles appeared in a dome-like pattern all around the space.
She clasped her hands together after her preparations, "Spatial Restoration: Affixation!"
After incantating the words, the space in front of her trembled and the encampment that was missing warped in.
A strong force pushed Emilia away but was soon caught by her master.
"Emilia, are you okay?!"
The woman clenched her teeth in annoyance. It happens every time she tries to reconnect isolated planes to the main structure.
"It's nothing, master! What a dumb thing that was!"
He helped his student up and saw the downed soldiers at the entrance of the encampment. The place was eerily silent which was supposed to be filled with rowdy warriors all around.
"The entire encampment was taken down?!", Arahon was in disbelief.
"No, it's not taken down. There are several people up ahead and one of them emits a radiant knight's power!", Harrtugg Naaw refuted.
"A radiant knight's power?!"
Follow current novels on (f)reew𝒆bnovel