“Weird.” Xenagrosh said. “Either our mark is an idiot or he is so confident in his defenses that he doesn’t need alarms. Stay on guard. Both are equally possible and his confidence may be well-founded.”
Following the energy signature was easy but their advance was slow because they stopped from time to time to check for traps and alarms. They never found anything but that only made them more nervous.
In everyone’s experience, the longer the opponent waited to deliver the blow, the stronger it would be.
Lith and Solus alternated using Life Vision, mana sense, and the Eyes to save their strength, noticing something about the Maw of Bytra.
At regular intervals, the Raiju and Zoreth conjured the life-sensing and array-detecting spells and a third spell that Lith had never seen before via the artifact.
“Can I ask you something about how the Maw works?” He said.
“Sure, but with a mind link, please. Brother-sister confidentiality.” Zoreth agreeing so easily made Lith feel bad. Asking for a mind link in the presence of Awakened was considered a rude gesture and a sign of blatant lack of trust but she did it for him nonetheless.
The tenderness with which the Shadow Dragon caressed his head made him feel worse.
‘What if one day I have to use what she is teaching me now against her? Wouldn’t that be an act of betrayal?’ He thought.
‘What’s the spell you cast after the two arrays?’ He actually asked via the mind link.
‘As you know, Abominations lack things like body cast and Life Vision. The Maw makes up for both. By combining a modified version of Full Guard with the sensing arrays, I can perceive both the movement of hidden enemies and the flow of mana of spells.’ She replied.
‘You can incorporate Full Guard to arrays?’ Lith was flabbergasted.
‘Yeah, but it’s not as cool as it sounds.’ She sighed. ‘Arrays can’t move with me and even though I get to feel the flow of mana, I don’t know what runes are being employed unless I look at them.
‘I can only understand what elements are being conjured and how powerful a spell is. As you can easily imagine, my Dragon Eyes don’t work with it as well. That’s why we are researching for a better version that at least can read a spell’s runes.’
The idea of a Dragon capable of learning everything that happened around them was simply terrifying. Life Vision had a much shorter range than an array and couldn’t see outside the field of view of the user.
‘How do you mix three spells like that?’ Lith put his worries aside and asked the question that bothered him the most. It usually required a power core to synergize arrays.
‘I don’t. It’s not something any mage I know can do but the Maw can.’ Zoreth tapped on the collar of her armor.
‘Thanks, big sister.’ Lith knew how much she liked to be called like that and the warm smile she gave him was proof of that.
‘Don’t mention it, little brother. This is nothing compared to the honor you gave me when you asked me to be Elysia’s godmother. We are family.’ She replied.
The idea of using his daughter in his manipulation was the last straw. Lith cut off the mind link and turned to Solus.
‘Can our Mouth do the same?’ He asked after sharing the previous conversation with her.
‘It’s possible.’ She wanted to scold him for what he had done but Solus could sense how guilty Lith already felt. ‘Remember that the Eyes explain only how something works. It’s up to us to understand its applications and limits.
‘If what Zoreth is doing requires just the spells stored in the Mouth, then yes, we can do the same. If it’s an ability based on the stored enchantments, instead, then we can’t at the moment but we can still test this theory on the Apprentice Mouth.’
Lith nodded, setting those questions aside for later. He couldn’t use the Mouth in the presence of witnesses anyway. The artifact was too eye-catching and unlike the Eyes, the Mouth had no stealth capabilities.
As they reached the deepest part of the woods, the scans kept coming back negative. There were no life forms but animals and no spells but those the group cast.
“In there.” Xenagrosh pointed at a rock formation that looked like the entrance to a cave.
She opened a Steps as far inside the cave as she could see from a distance in the fading daylight and cast her set of three spells.
“What the fuck?” The Shadow Dragon sniffed the air, touched the ground with her black Abomination hands, and cast the same set of spells from the outside, refusing to believe her own magic.
Yet all the readings confirmed her first impression.
“Why are you freaking out?” Strider used Life Vision and his best detection spells while never taking his hands off the hilts of the curved swords at his hips. “Have we fallen into a trap?”
‘Anything that can make a monster like her flustered can turn us into mincemeat.’ He thought, not lowering his guard even when he found no trace of the presence of a mage or even a magical beast.
“No. There are no traps or spells. Not even inside the cave.” Xenagrosh shook her head. “That I would understand. This makes no sense, instead. You need to see it for yourself or you won’t believe me.”
No matter what spell or mystical sense the others used, there was nothing but small animals and common vegetation. Their curiosity peaked as they reached the cave and there it turned into shock.
“What the fuck?” Some of them used different words but the concept was the same.
Up until the external layers of rock, the woods were nothing special. Once past the threshold of the cave, instead, there was a vigorous flow of world energy like they had never seen before.
Most mana geysers looked flimsy in comparison.
Trying to find an explanation for the phenomenon, they went in and out of the cave multiple times until they could deny the evidence anymore.
“This cannot be.” Ryka the Titania stepped inside, her body trembling in shock and excitement.
Small roots sprouted from her hands and feet, seeping through the hard rock like it was wet soil. Her skin lit up like a blazing torch as the world energy flowed through her body and charged the sap that ran in her veins instead of blood.
Her mouth and eyes were open wide, a bright blue light surged from within her and turned them into three blazing wells of mana.
“What cannot be? Explain yourself.” Strider grabbed her shoulder to snap her out of it, receiving a jolt of energy that sent him flying.
Before anyone could make a move, the Titania arched her back and the wood of her body screeched and twisted in what was the Fae equivalent of a scream. A tinge of violet painted the blue and after a few seconds, it spread to the rest of her aura.
Under the shocked gazes of her companions, Ryka had just reached the deep violet core.
