Jason floated up and gently touched the surface in front of him, and he closed his eyes and poured some mana into it. The entire sky rippled once again, and this time Jason noticed a faint magical signature reaching back out to him in response to his magic. This wasn’t some random illusion...
"It’s a rune. Someone used a rune to cast an illusion here."
Jason said this while frowning, and he glanced to the side as he saw a prompt appearing on his system tab.
[Rune Analysis] has been activated!
——
Rune Analysis
Rune Name: Kaleidoscope of the Sacred Order of Atlantis
Rune Grade: Second Grade
Class Required: Green Class Rune Crafter or Higher
MP Required: 5,000,000 MP
Description: A complex rune crafted by the Sacred Order of Runecrafters within Atlantis. The rune serves both as a protective shield as well as a means of transportation for the Kingdom of Atlantis. It was created as a means of protecting the kingdom of Atlantis from outside influence during the Period of Lawlessness, but a freak accident during the Rune Activation led to an accident that affected the Rune Sequence. So rather than sinking into the ocean, the city floated high into the sky and has remained here for more than half a century.
Breaking down and destroying the Rune Sequence would be impossible at the user’s mastery level, but due to the malfunction in the rune sequence, the user should be capable of creating a pathway into the shield.
——
Jason hummed when he was done reading through the system’s message, and he couldn’t help but smile when he read the last part. Jason had actually been really worried about trying to counteract this Rune Sequence, especially when Jason saw how many Mana Points it would take to break through the rune! Jason knew that in order to counter a rune sequence, you usually needed to use an equal or higher amount of mana, so Jason would’ve had to sacrifice more than five million mana points just to destroy the rune. That wasn’t something Jason was looking forward to at all! But since it was possible to create a pathway through the rune without destroying the entire thing, Jason realised that things had become far easier!
’Azrael, get out here and help me out.’
Jason called on the Rune Master subordinate, and Azrael appeared from the alternate dimension and bowed to Jason respectfully. Behind Jason, Gina and Stella watched on curiously as Azrael put his hand on the invisible wall and began analysing it together with Jason, and Gina spoke up.
"Babe, are you going to bring the rune down?"
"No, not everything. The rune is too powerful, so bringing everything down will take too long. But there was a flaw when the rune was created, so we can just make a pathway for us to pass through. Get ready to move when I say so."
Jason answered absentmindedly as he tried to focus on the rune once again, and Gina nodded as she and Stella waited patiently for Jason to finish. Time passed quickly, and before long, it was already more than ten minutes since Jason and Azrael had been working on the rune. The purple sun in the sky was already starting to set on the horizon, and on the other side of the world, a bright yellow sun was slowly coming into view. Gina had a worried look on her face as she saw Jason sweating while focusing on the rune, and she was just about to mention taking a rest when Jason’s entire face lit up!
"It’s ready!"
Jason said this with a proud grin, and Gina also smiled in pride when she heard it! Stella had a smug look on her face, as if Jason’s achievement was also her own, and Jason sent Azrael back to the Alternate Dimension before he twisted his hand to the right to disrupt the rune sequence and pulled back.
WOOSH!
A gust of wind blew across the sky before the area in front of them began to shimmer as the rune sequence on that area weakened enough for people to pass through. Jason quickly sent a few of his subordinates into the rune to see whether there was a trap in there, and the moment they replied that it was safe, Jason grabbed Gina and Stella’s hands and flew forward without bothering to wait for them! Both Stella and Gina were surprised when Jason suddenly pulled them forward, and barely a second after they passed through the shimmering portal, the entire rune shone with a bright red light, and a surge of power was sent towards the weakened region of the rune to quickly fix it! Jason had rushed to pass through the rune because he knew that the Kaleidoscope rune sequence had a failsafe that allowed it to autocorrect any defects in its structure, so he needed to get through the opening he made before it closed back down. And it wasn’t long before the Kaleidoscope realised that there was an opening in its structure, and it quickly used the appropriate amount of mana to close the defect, and the world of Riyad became silent once again.
At that moment, somewhere on the other side of Riyad, a large Dimensional Circle tore open across the sky, and the Machina army flew out and began to make their way towards the settlement of the Aquina. The Machina General leading the army had been using a sensor to track Jason’s position all the way to this world, but as they approached the settlement, the General noticed that Jason’s mana had suddenly vanished! The General obviously didn’t believe that it was possible, and he even got a new sensor to try and see if there was a problem with the other one, but the result was still the same.
The rune sequence in the sky that held the city of Atlantis and protected it from outsiders was so powerful that it was capable of blocking out all forms of magical or physical sensors that tried to pierce through it, so by going into that rune, Jason had effectively blocked out the sensor from picking up his magical signature! So right now, the Machina only knew that Jason’s last position was in the city of Aquina, and it was impossible for them to know where he had gone! The Machina General glared at his sensor in anger, and he turned around and barked an order to the soldiers behind him.
"Spread out and look for any signs of the Black Enigma! If anyone finds anything, then report back to me immediately!"
"YES, SIR!"
The group of more than two hundred Machinas immediately shouted their response before they separated and began to search different parts of the Aquina settlement. The General turned towards the large circular space in the middle of the settlement, and he frowned as he wondered if Jason had gone down there. The General had heard rumors that the city of Atlantis was located somewhere at the bottom of the ocean, and if Jason went deep enough, then that might be what was blocking the sensor from picking up his mana. The general put a hand to his ear, and someone picked up on the other side before he spoke.
"I need ten of our best divers to come to Riyad this instant. I think Jason Marc went into the ocean."
....
Jason landed on a large rocky platform along with Gina and Stella, and he wiped the sweat on his chin as he looked up at the large structure in front of them. Atlantis looked like something straight out of a storybook.