While the demon wolf Heorgar was still skeptical as to what kind of assistance a mere rank 8 acolyte could provide in what they were about to face, after learning of Emery's spatial spell, he finally relented and stopped vehemently refusing.
Now that the issue about Emery was resolved, the group of four: Magus Leon the enforcer, the two half-blood magus Heorgar and Beatrice, and Emery himself quickly traveled through the darkness of Kulturmak Forest.
Magus Beatrice, who was the best hunter among them, was assigned to lead the way, while Emery would quickly create a spatial gate in the direction the former pointed at.
Throughout the journey, the demon wolf Heorgar didn't say anything and fell completely silent. Even so, Emery could see the tattoos on his body flickering from time to time. It seemed the man was injured or doing something that was out of his knowledge.
Moments later, Emery took his gaze away from the man and cast it at another person in the group, Magus Leon. Right now, the man seemed to be focused on healing his missing arm.
Emery watched in awe, the wound had already mostly closed and became a stump bathed in a layer of light, gradually regrowing. He couldn't help but click his tongue as he watched the healing process.
One of the great things about the magus realm was the immortal body that was formed when one's soul entered the spirit core and fused with it.
After transcending and becoming a full fledged magus, the body became a mere vessel and thus could be fully regenerated to its original state, as long as the spirit soul was still intact at least.
Seeing Magus Leon heal his missing arm served to further strengthen Emery's will to break through into the magus realm. But for now, he needed to turn his attention to the current task.
Now that he no longer needed to sneak around, Emery unleashed all his reservations. He constantly created spatial gates at its maximum capability, allowing the group to cross a distance of 50 miles in under a minute. The reason the group couldn't go any faster was that Emery needed to rest in between the casting of the powerful long distance spell.
When the third spatial gate opened and the group stepped inside, they had finally arrived at their first destination. The place was the wide clearing where the group clashed with the traitors before. Their goal was to find and collect what's left of the Magus Garnet, who unfortunately died under the hands of Magus Jigow.
Alas, the group soon discovered that the lifeless corpse with many scars on its skin was missing its spirit core.
"They reduced his core to pieces," said Magus Leon, picking up small pieces of crystal that scattered around the body. A look of grief appeared on his face as he sighed bitterly.
Emery saw the crystal-like pieces and guessed it probably was what was left of Magus Garnet's spirit soul.
The enforcer closed his eyes to suppress the emotions that threatened to burst out. Then, he grabbed a metal bracelet that lay near the corpse and quietly stored it away.
Turning around to the other three, he said, "Let's go. We're done here."
Thanks to Emery's [Spatial Gate], the group was able to travel at least twice as fast as if they had gone by foot. A skill like [Spatial Gate] was truly god-like for traveling, as it allowed one to jump from one point to another in basically an instant. Furthermore, they were also able to avoid taking any unnecessary detours due to hostile encounters and difficult terrains such as hills or rivers.
This time, Beatrice, who led the way, was seeking for the sign of where the other wolf packs or Chief Beowulf, who went with Grand Magus Kadek.
The group continued to jump through the gates Emery created. Finally, after a few more jumps, Heorgar was the first one who sensed them.
"Right there! 300 miles that way!" Heorgar said, pointing his finger in the direction.
As they made their way towards the direction Heorgar pointed, the group could clearly see traces of battle along the way.
"What is actually going on? I thought the chief had no plan to fight the magus?!" Beatrice said, while looking at Heorgar for answers. Unfortunately, the demon wolf could only shake his head, as he didn't know the answer to that question.
Realizing the plan had gone off track again, the group quickly gathered and Emery cast [Spatial Gate] again.
As they got closer, Emery could feel a sudden sense of relief within the group. Later, he found out the reason was that the other three, who were bonafide magus, had perceived the number of people and energy signatures at the place they were going to were still the same, meaning they were all safe.
Two members of the magus enforcer, a group of six wolf pack leaders with Chief Beowulf among them. However, Emery couldn't sense Grand Magus Kadek's energy signature.
Emery cast the last [Spatial Gate] needed to reach their destination and Magus Leon quickly entered it. When he stepped out of the gate and saw the situation between the two groups, Magus Leon suddenly turned emotional as he swiftly rushed to the site.
"Stop! What are you doing?!"
Emery, who entered the spatial gate last, stepped out of it and finally understood why Magus Leon reacted like that. He could see that Anna, one of the wolf pack leaders, was currently standing in front of one of the magus enforcers, Michela, who was kneeling, with both of Anna's palms on top of her head.
If that wasn't bad enough, the female enforcer was even being restrained by some kind of crystallized ice. It was no wonder Magus Leon's reaction was excessive. His colleague was risking of dying right now!
Magus Leon swiftly shot towards Anna to stop whatever she was about to do. However, his run was quickly brought to a stop when Chief Beowulf and his two other enforcer colleagues, Jasper and Laban, stood in the way.
This sight was enough to make Magus Leon stop what he was planning, as he realized he might be assuming too soon. Still, that didn't stop him from being irritated to see his comrade being abused.
"What's going on here?!" Magus Leon shouted, his eyes bloodshot as he looked at the kneeling Michela. "Where's the grand magus?!"
Emery and especially the other two, who also had no idea how the situation turned to this were also confused. Therefore, they remained silent and just stared at Chief Beowulf, waiting for him to explain what had happened.
Seeing Beatrice and Heorgar arrive, Chief Beowulf ignored Leon and quickly asked about the other wolf pack condition instead. An expression of sorrow quickly appeared on the old wolf's face, when he heard the news of the death of the entire pack of Wind Wolves and Brutus.
On the other side, Jasper, one of Magus Leon's enforcer colleagues, approached the man and explained what happened in the last hour after they separated. What Magus Leon heard shocked him.
When the fight between Chief Beowulf and Grand Magus Kadek seemed about to start, the former suddenly changed his stance and quickly surrendered. The grand magus, who noticed something was strange didn't attack either and asked the chief what was really going on.
Hearing that, Chief Beowulf smiled faintly and was about to explain the Wolf Bloodline's plan to lure the real traitors. It was at this moment Magus Michela suddenly took action and tried to kill him.
Akin to an active volcano, Michela's action became to fuse that made the two groups fight each other. However, Grand Magus Kadek quickly noticed Michela's unusual behavior and forcibly stopped the fight before anything irreversible happened.
Anna was a Rank 6 Mesmer Wolf; her innate talent was enchantment. The reason Chief Beowulf brought her was to make sure whoever chased them believed their story. Instead, he was tasked to cure Magus Michela of the madness.
"What do you mean by madness? Where is the magister?!" asked Magus Leon to Jasper.
Jasper told him that Grand Magus Kadek believed Magus Michela was unlikely to be compromised by the enemy, unless the deed was done recently after the group left the academy. Therefore, the grand magus decided to go back to the Kultumak settlement to find the person who was strong enough to do that, while chief Beowlf tasked Anna to help dispel the spell that was affecting the female enforcer, Michela.
All of these revelations were a little too overwhelming. After all, someone that could enchant a Half-Moon magus enforcer to do something against their will was someone hard to imagine.
Emery suddenly saw everyone turn in a certain direction at the same time. An alarmed expression appeared on their faces, before quickly turning normal again.
It took him a few seconds to realize it was Grand Magus Kadek, running at a speed even faster than his [Spatial Gate] could cover. When she arrived, the group all had a shocked expression on their faces.
This was because her current appearance looked like she had just gone through a strenuous battle. This assumption was further solidified when everyone saw a dead body in her arms, which she quickly thrown into the center of the group.
Emery was rather surprised when he noticed that, although the corpse was mostly ruined, he could still recognize the key characteristic the other party wanted to show them. Long, pointed ears. It was the corpse of an elf.
"Magister… This is…?" Magus Leon asked, but the look on his face, as well as the others', showed he had some idea about this unknown body's identity.
"Yes, everyone. It's an elf. They are involved in today's trouble. Moreover, the Kulturmak settlement is no more. There are no survivors and the portal has been destroyed."
This news brought a wave of shock and disbelief to everyone. This also proved the previous assumption, that all the planet's portal gates had been compromised.
Magister Kadek obviously noticed Emery's presence, who shouldn't be here, but decided to ignore him from the time being. She still had important things to say.
"This means we are in immediate danger. This has already crossed the threshold of an A-rank mission, raising it into another level altogether. Furthermore, I am afraid things will only get worse from now on."
"Worse? What could be worse than an A-rank mission? A fight that involves the death of multiple peak magus figures and a settlement like Kulturmak filled with hundreds of strong figures…" Emery thought silently.
Before Emery could finish his thoughts, a look of shock suddenly appeared on Grand Magus Kadek's face, who quickly looked up to the dark sky. Everyone who saw her actions subconsciously followed suit. Shocked expressions also appeared on their faces.
Emery saw a flickering star drop down from afar, turning bigger as it got closer to the ground like a falling meteor, only to realize it was actually a construct, or rather, a spaceship. And as it continued its descent, Emery got to see how massive it actually was.
The shock on Emery's face grew to an unprecedented level, when Magus Leon revealed the identity of the spaceship.
"An Elven warship!"
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Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v..e.l,