Chapter 319 Retrieval (4)
The Southevile Manor, where the brief clash between Charles and the unaffiliated had just occured, was silent. Half of it was blown away—the remaining people there looked at the empty spot that was previously occupied by Charles solemnly.
Two things bewildered them: how quick Charles had disappeared from the place; and the destruction of Red Coffin, one of the Artefacts that had been stored in the Kingdom's Treasure Vault for thousands of years.
They could figure the reason why Charles could disappear that quick—[Teleportation]—however they couldn't understand how it was possible.
In a Sacred Ground, after all, unless it was used within it, [Teleportation] wouldn't work. In other words, one could still freely teleport oneself to any other place within a Sacred Ground, but not to the outside.
Charles had just done the impossible—teleporting out of Southevile. It wasn't the only bewildering thing he had done however; he also didn't Carve any Teleportation Magic Circle.
Teleportation Magic Circle was needed when one wanted to teleport oneself to a faraway place or to a specific place. They were sure they couldn't spot any on the ground, which adds to their astonishment.
"None of us can possibly know what each of the Artefacts kept here can do. We don't even know what Artefacts are kept here—how could we even know about their function?" Averill retorted.
"Bloody bastard!" Blake cursed under his breath. "He has played us for days, and he left just like that." He gritted his teeth in rage. "He has even possibly killed Chester!"
"Calm down, Blake. You are not young anymore," Averill reminded; though, he looked just as angry. "How about contacting him first through Transmission Talisman? We can track his whereabouts later."
Widening his eyes, Blake immediately took out his Transmission Talisman. "Darn it! How come I only remember about it now?!" Quickly contacting Chester, he cursed afterwards, "Fuck! There is an Isolation Spell cast around us!"
The Transmission Talisman couldn't work. The transmission couldn't be sent, which means there was something preventing it to be sent to the receiver.
Only one thing could cause such a phenomenon to happen, and that was an Isolation Spell.
Charles had cast more than one layer of Isolation Spells on the Viscountcy to completely cut off any contact with the outside world. He made it so the people trapped inside became oblivious of the happening outside.
"I found the Rune that sustains the Spell!"
The Rune to sustain it was Carved in the guess room. It bewildered them that they had passed by it more than once for the last couple of days.
"Let's break it!"
Boom!
Being experienced Mages, of course, all of them could immediately break the layers of Isolation Spells.
"Darn it! We have missed so many informations."
"Ludicrous! What is wrong with the King? Why does he have to send the Princes and the Royal Army to BA-32?! Doesn't he know how dangerous that place is?"
"What a mess—we have lost more than twenty thousands of Royal Army personnels for the past week!"
When the Isolation Spell was broken, the news that was broadcasted to every Transmission Talisman owner in Braxtein Kingdom was received. Many of the people clicked their tongue bitterly as soon as they heard what had happened.
Although they had been worried of how the people outside fared against the Demons for the past four days, they didn't think much of it because they didn't receive any news. Therefore, when they got the news, they found it hard to swallow.
"Wait, what? Is this seriously?"
"Holy cow! We won the battle in Woster County?"
Of course, bad news wasn't the only thing that they got. They also got the news of humanity's first victory, and Basil's role in it.
"I will be very mad if this turns out to be a twaddle."
"No, seriously. A seventeen year old—a Fifth Circle Mage singlehandedly defeat two High Grade Monsters? Bloody awesome!"
"That's my boy! Hahaha! My former disciple, the peerless genius of Woster has led people to victory!"
While the others simply couldn't believe what they heard, Blake was taking a pleasure in hearing the news. He was simply overjoyed by the fact that Basil, the genius he had cultivated had finally made a name for himself.
The others were surprised by his laughter. They turned to him, and wondered whether he had forgotten about Chester whose whereabouts was unknown.
"Have you gone mad, old man?" Averill, who had seen how furious Blake had been, couldn't be more bewildered. "You still have something to worry about, don't you?"
"Hmph! I can laugh like this because I already have none." Blake snorted faintly. Waving his hand, he said, "Stop looking at me as if I have lost my mind. Chester is safe; he is in Raneil Barony, at my former disciple, Basil's house."
"Why is he there?"
"He told me through the Transmission Talisman that he had a brief clash with Charles before he escaped this place. He thought that there was a traitor amongst us, so he notified Basil about Charles."
"And...?" Averill quirked his eyebrow.
"Basil told him to take shelter at his family's hotel—his house." Blake hummed lightly. "Chester wasn't awake yet at that time, but Basil's adoptive father told him that Basil had a brief clash with Charles and managed to fatally injure him."
"... Is that kid a super Mage or something?" Averill asked funnily. "Well, it seems the kid is our silver lining in this dark cloud. It's great to know that we have someone that can match Charles Blois."
Averill sighed at the same time Blake did. The excitement suddenly left everyone in the room as they looked at the destroyed Red Coffin and the half disintegrated bodies of the Knights who had sacrificed themselves for naught.
They didn't know how Anthony would react to this, but all of them would still report what had happened there. Infusing their Mana into their Transmission Talisman, the news about Charles Blois' reappearance was spread.
Anthony, who had been on his way to Randalvine immediately made a U turn and head to Southevile Viscountcy. He wanted to know what had happened in detail and make sure nothing too important had missed from the Treasure Vault.
At the same time, he gave an order to the unaffiliated Mages and Knights, except for those stationed in Southevile, to leave the Sacred Grounds and hunt for Charles Blois.
...
BA-32, The Thirty Second Obelisk, The Obelisk of Goap.
When Charles was still on his way to Southevile, way before his clash against the unaffiliated, the Royal Army, the Knights and Mages outside the Army entered the Obelisk with Basil in the lead.
There was no door opened for them—they just passed through the wall like it was a semipermeable membrane. Since this point on, they were no longer led by Basil, but Ione, who was impersonating him.
They didn't even realize Ione's disappearance, or rather, Basil's disappearance as they were too occupied by the scenery inside the Obelisk.
"To think that such vile Monsters live in this kind of place... How enviable."
"No one will think this place hosts mindless creatures like those Monsters."
The people found themselves crossing an extremely long and massive bridge. Looking around, they could see an endless sea—the bridge was just a few centimetres away from the water.
A cozy wind constantly blew towards them, giving them the feeling of being really at the sea. They knew more than half of what they saw was just a Bewitchment, but they still couldn't help it.
"Be careful, everyone," Glenn and the other Legion Commanders warned. "No matter how beautiful this place is, it is still the enemy's territory."
"Watch your left and right. The Monsters will surely attack from those sides," Edward added. "Stay as far away from the water as you can. It won't be pretty if you accidentally drop yourself into it."
While everyone nodded their head, Ione, who was impersonating Basil with her Art, couldn't help shaking her head in astonishment. She was completely unbothered by the potential dangers, but she was still not as daring as her Lord.
It was apparent that the only passable way this place had was the bridge that led to the big gate at the end of it. There should be no way for Basil to escape the people's view without passing the gate at the end of the bridge.
... Or that was what most people thought.
Basil, who had stood strong when countless of storms of ordeals passed him in the past, however, thought differently. Although he already knew the water was a dangerous place, he still dived into it.
Unlike the others, he had explored tens of Obelisks in his last life—a third of which had been cleared by himself. He knew many things about Obelisks, and Goap's was no exception.
He knew there a was shortcut to the treasury room under the water. He was going to get to the shortcut, so he could retrieve Durendal that had been rotting in the Obelisk faster.
"I don't know if he is nuts or just fearless." Ione shook her head helplessly. "Whichever it is, that's what makes him ahead of everyone." Sighing to herself, she focused her attention to the gate ahead of her.
The bridge was 20 kilometers long. It was not a distance Ione couldn't cover under 10 minutes—especially when it was a straight way—however she knew reaching the end of the bridge wouldn't be easy.
20 kilometers could be covered under 10 minutes, however it would be a different story if there was something in their way. She could already sense the Monsters hiding in the water gradually going up to the surface, and this was a trouble.
She immediately took out her sword—it had a red blade, a red hilt, and a length of 145 centimeters—and swung it once to get used to it.
It had been years since she had swung a sword. She preferred not to swing anymore sword, however she needed to for the sake of having a successful impersonation of Basil.
"Prepare yourself!"
"Watch your sides!"
"Keep a tight guard!"
"Stand in your position!"
Ione's simple gesture of swinging her sword alerted the others. They viewed Basil's judgement highly, so they were sure Ione, who was impersonating Basil, had sensed a danger coming.
"Bloody hell... Are you serious?!"
They weren't wrong; their preparation wasn't for naught. The Demons immediately revealed themselves in the next moment.
They showed up to the surface... And fell down from the ceiling. It baffled the people greatly—no one had expected it to happen.