Disoriented and robbed of their vision by the sudden burst of light, the Vorathid Sky-Hunters lost their coordination and crashed to the ground.
"Bastard!"
The moment the blinding flash of light faded away and dissipated into nothing, Reidar checked around, but Mara had completely vanished and was absolutely nowhere to be found.
"You trying to run?!" The Vorathid Sky-Hunters spread. Then he caught a flicker of movement on a ridge four hundred meters away, significantly higher up the volcanic slope.
"That bitch is already there."
As far as Reidar understood, teleporting close meant the spell was faster to cast. The real problem was long-range teleportation. If Mara got 400 meters of distance, it meant she needed enough time before Reidar reached her to teleport farther than just 400 meters.
The woman was now running, scrambling and clawing her way up the steep and treacherous incline of the volcano, doing everything in her power to put as much distance and as much difficult terrain between herself and him as she could, all while preparing another teleportation spell that would allow her to escape even farther from his reach.
Reidar lifted the baton again. The Sky-Hunters had recovered and were looking to him for orders. They could catch her. On this terrain, the insects were faster than a human since they could fly. He could have them swarm her, drag her back, or tear her apart right there on the ridge.
He opened his mouth to give the order, but then something made him pause and reconsider his initial impulse.
"Wait," Reidar said, and the Sky-Hunters froze.
Reidar watched the small white figure disappear behind a crag of rock. His grip on the baton tightened until his knuckles turned white. Every instinct he had screamed at him to chase her.
But logic intervened, or better, it was a thought that arrived.
<If I catch her now, I will die for sure. >
He lowered the baton. The Sky-Hunters dissolved into mana mist.
Reidar stood alone in the howling wind of the volcanic plain. He walked over to where Mara had landed. The scorch marks of her teleportation spell were still smoking on the rock. He crouched down and touched the residue. It was fading fast.
Reidar stood up and looked at the hostile horizon. The Church had been experimenting with portals for months. Silas had used them. The invasions were built on them. Mara didn't just accidentally open a door to nowhere; she had coordinates. She had an anchor. Otherwise, she would have never allowed Reidar to bring her here.
<She has a way back,> Reidar thought. <Or she knows how to make one. >
He looked at his own hands. He was a Summoner. He could build armies, he could manipulate mana, and he could destroy cities. But he couldn't build a dimensional portal to another world.
But Mara did.
She was a high-ranking member of the church. She created teleportation magic. And judging by her terror, she knew Reidar was aware of her being able to go back.
The only problem was that if she had opened a portal to this place, it meant she was certain that this world and its conditions would be more than enough to kill him.
<Is it for the 5 points of fire damage per second or…>
It was most likely because of something else. There were many chances that this world had been one of the many the Allied Worlds failed to save, which meant that this place was filled with monsters.
Reidar had plenty of food and water in his inventory, to the point he could last for years since the meat didn't spoil inside it.
The only problems he would have to face were potential encounters with hostile creatures that might live in this volcanic wasteland and that he might not be able to face, as well as the many environmental hazards that could kill him if he weren't careful enough.
Reidar began to pace. The situation was a mess.
<If I kill her now, I will get the satisfaction. That's true. But then I would just starve in this place or get eaten by whatever lived here. No, I need her to succeed. I need her to make the portal and then get out of here before she does. >
To survive in this hostile alien world, Reidar found himself in the paradoxical position of needing his enemy to complete her plan. He needed Mara to do all the heavy lifting, to prepare the dimensional portal that would serve as their only means of escape from this volcanic wasteland.
The only problem he faced now was that he needed to locate her. The Vorathid Sky-Hunters were already flying far away from his current position, spreading out across the volcanic terrain and scouring the landscape in every direction to find the fleeing woman.
As Reidar assumed, she teleported once again at many kilometers of distance. Luckily, the Vorathid Sky-Hunters had already spread far, so she teleported somewhere where Reidar could still see her. The only problem was that she started spamming teleportation spells.
<This is going to be complicated. >
Reidar also needed to make Mara think she was safe so that she could focus on the magic circle. If she thought he was right behind her, she would keep running until she exhausted herself and died, stranding them both.
But there was a catch. The timing.
When she opened that portal, the goal was to just trap Reidar so that she would close it the second he was through. Since he couldn't just let her finish it, he intervened and forced her to cross it.
<She makes the portal. I kill her and then cross it before it closes.
That was the plan.
Reidar pulled up his interface, wincing as he gauged his mana reserves. The fight at the outpost had hollowed him out, leaving a dangerous ache he knew well to be mana exhaustion, but he could already feel his regeneration ticking back up, refilling the void bit by bit.
He fixed his eyes on the jagged ridge where Mara had vanished from sight just moments before.
<Let's hope she just doesn't go too far.>