“I think he will be more pissed off by you almost dying due to your bravado. There’s no defence against those black rays, your shields are no safer than wet paper against them. What the heck were you thinking?” Seeing Phloria almost die had triggered his memories about Carl.
Both Quylla and Phloria were surprised by his aggressive remarks, but only because neither of them had ever faced a fully formed Abomination. Only after Lith explained to them what they were capable of, did the girls realize how big of a bullet they had just dodged.
“Even if I knew all this, I wouldn’t have acted any differently.” Phloria said.
“My aim is to become a member of the Knight’s Guard, the elite of the elite for Mage Knights. If we don’t protect our assigned marks, we’re useless. What just happened is an occupational hazard.”
Lith would have liked to scold Phloria for her nonsensical behavior, but in the end, he decided against it. He too had risked dying many times to follow his own agenda, criticizing her for doing the same would have been plain hypocritical.
Soon Morok started to open new tunnels with earth magic. Seeing how fast and confident he was while taking several apparently random turns, made Lith curious.
“How can you be so sure this is the right way? Do you have a map or something?” He asked via the army amulet.
“No, I just marked the walls on my passage to react to my mana, in case I got lost or I needed to backtrack. That’s why only I can lead the expedition. Don’t you do the same in dungeons or underground places when there is no time to draw a map?” Morok replied.
“No. I have a great memory.” To be exact, Solus did.
In emergency situations, Lith would rely on her abilities to access his memories and find the right path. Otherwise, he would always take his time to draw a map and store it inside Soluspedia to gain tactical awareness in the case an ambush occurred.
Like he was doing in that moment.
Morok had tasked him to close the tunnels as soon as possible so that no one could follow them without being noticed. Earth magic produced a lot of noise and with the echo in the tunnels, its use could be heard for hundreds of meters.
The expedition team managed to move forward for two more hours before even Morok was on the verge of collapsing due to exhaustion. Their advance had slowed down even further due to the lack of lighting since they had left the mines.
The natural tunnels were bumpy and uneven. Their footing was also very precarious because the humidity would condense on the ground, making it slippery. Luckily for them, during his first passage, Morok had marked safe rest spots.
“You take the first watch.” Morok said while pointing at Lith.
“Then have someone relieve you after one hour, I don’t care who. I’ll take the last watch. We’re not moving from here for four hours minimum.”
Before any of the soldiers could complain that he wasn’t their commanding officer, Morok was already asleep. His behavior caused many grumbles, but they didn’t last long. Everyone was so tired that they fell asleep the moment they sat down.
Lith checked his surroundings with Life Vision. The light coming from the crystal mines was far away enough to allow him to scout far and wide, making sure that there was no imminent threat.
He even performed a Life Detection array to cover more ground.
“Forgemaster, Healer, fighter, and even Warden?” A voice asked.
Lith recognized the woman from the Black Griffon. He was expecting some snarky remarks or even that she would attempt to report his assault on her to his commanding officer.
Not that Lith was afraid of either possibility. He was used to being insulted ever since he had stepped inside the White Griffon academy. Powerful people hated the idea of witnessing the growth of someone that could become more powerful than them.
Their natural response was to nip people like Lith in the bud, at any cost. As for the latter possibility, Lith would have loved to see Jirni have a discussion with someone that had dared to suggest letting her daughter die.
‘I’m sure it would be something so slow and gruesome that I could learn a lot. I’d like to think of myself as a master of coercion, but compared to Jirni I’m just a journeyman.’ He thought.
“Everything that’s needed for survival has to be learned.” Lith replied.
“Wise words for someone so prone to violence.” Her voice was calm. She wasn’t trying to insult him, only stating a fact.
“Without strength, wisdom is nothing but hot air. Without wisdom, strength is just violence. I was only protecting someone who I hold dear. If you expect an apology from me, don’t hold your breath.” Lith replied.
“Quite the contrary. I’ve come to apologize for my earlier behavior. My assistant is like a son to me. I couldn’t stand watching him die while I was helpless because of my wound. I was angry at myself and I took it out on you.” She gave Lith a small bow.
“Take these as a sign of my good will.” She handed Lith several mana cyan crystals, each one with a flat bottom and as big as a beer bottle.
“Thanks, but what am I supposed to do with them Professor…?” Lith was very confused. He had a lot on his mind, from the loss of the Gatekeeper to almost watching Phloria die. His brain was about to pop.
“Yondra Mefaal. Black Griffon’s Professor of history of magic and Forgemastering. You can use them to set a barrier. I’m too weak to cast a spell, but at least I can give you some help.” She replied with a kind smile.
Seeing that Lith wasn’t moving, Yondra laughed and showed him how to perform the Silent Shroud array. When Lith was done, a black dome surrounded the camp, preventing to both light and sound from spreading outside of its premises.
“Now no one can see or hear us. The barrier it produces is not very strong, but as you can see, it’s a very useful formation.” Thanks to the array, Lith could see the area surrounding them as if he was wearing thermal goggles.
It was quite useless for someone capable of using Life and Fire Vision, but it would allow him to rest more easily when others come to relieve him of guard duty.
“Thank you very much.” Lith said while copying the spell into his grimoire along with his thoughts about how to turn it into true magic.
“Don’t mention it. By protecting you I’m protecting myself. I’d like to talk about many things with someone as peculiar as you are, but alas, I’m beat. See you later.” Yondra checked on her assistant’s condition and after she made sure he was only fatigued just like she was, she fell asleep.
Lith followed her example and went to check on his friends. Morok didn’t seem to need his help and judging by his snoring, he was having a good time. Quylla and Phloria were both sleeping.
Invigoration confirmed to him that there was nothing wrong with them. Since there was no point in waking them up, Lith started to circle around the edges of the formation while using Accumulation.
The tunnel was quiet. There was no noise nor energy signature coming towards them, yet the space around them was far from being empty.
