Reidar's vision shifted from his eyes to the insect's view he was so used to.
The Sky-Hunter was in a massive room. Reidar could see the walls stretching out in every direction, the ceiling high above. That wasn't just another hallway or office. It was an important place.
<They found Mara.>
The insect was perched on a ledge near the ceiling, looking down at the room below.
Reidar assumed that was the palace's main room. It looked like some kind of ballroom, with a polished floor and tall windows lining the walls.
Most likely, important political events for the Ignis happened here, both before and after the apocalypse. Maybe the palace served as a kind of refuge for the Ignis before the end, with their elites defending the palace from the monsters, only for them to turn into ones and leave the defense to the only thing that remained there.
The silence.
The windows were broken now, of course, letting in the wind and the purple light from the vortex, but Reidar imagined how beautiful they had been based on the fragments on the ground and those still clinging to the window frames.
Though a ballroom was weird considering the Ignis didn't have kings. At least, the journal hadn't mentioned any monarchy, and Reidar assumed only kings would build something like this, to boost their ego.
The High Council governed them, so it looked like this High Council was some kind of noble organization.
<Or maybe this was just a governmental building, a place where the Council met with foreign delegations or held ceremonies.>
Regardless, Mara was standing in the center of the room.
She was on top of a large magic circle. The chalk lines glowed with light, which meant the magic circle was working.
The pattern was complex, far more intricate than the failed circles Reidar had seen in the other cities.
The Vorathid Sky-Hunter flew lower, giving Reidar a better view.
The conductor lines radiated out from the center, connecting hundreds of anchor points. At each anchor point sat a catalyst—chunks of metal, bone fragments, and crystals.
Some of the catalysts looked old. Ancient metal ingots, corroded and pitted but that still held some amount of mana. Fragments of bone that had turned grey with age. Crystals that had lost most of their glow.
But some looked new. Fresh metal, still shining. Bone fragments with marrow that hadn't dried out.
<She hunted.>
That made sense. Mara had been on this planet as long as he had, and she wasn't stupid. She'd probably run into lower-level monsters, things she could actually kill. A level 368 mage who could teleport would have surely found a way to kill something. She could have handled a level 400 creature if she was smart about it. And Mara was smart.
The fresh materials meant she'd been gathering power all along. But of course, Reidar knew that would have happened even if she didn't try.
Since he was focused on the circle, Reidar didn't notice Mara's name tag at first. The interface only showed tags for things he was looking at directly or that he wanted to know. His attention had been on the catalysts, the conductor lines, and the overall structure of the circle.
But once he turned to look at her through the Vorathid Sky-Hunter's eyes, he saw it.
[Mara Icro—Level 533]
Reidar's thoughts stopped.
Level 533.
She was weaker than him, but that didn't mean she was weak in general. She started at a far lower level than him, and this improvement meant she gained more than 100 levels in the time she'd been here.
<How?>
The math didn't add up. Reidar had killed no more than 20 Ignis and fought constantly for weeks. He'd gone from Level 400 to Level 549. That was 149 levels, but he had armies. Most of his summons just died, while the others accrued damage on a single enemy.
Mara had gained far more than he did since she was weaker by around 50 levels when they got here.
Though surely her level surge could be attributed to two things: monsters and ambient mana.
This planet was saturated with mana, after all, to the point that the average monster was almost at level 600; the Ignis were proof of this. If she'd been here long enough, just breathing had to have leveled her up.
Reidar focused on her appearance. Mara was less human than she had been before.
Her hair had grown to reach her waist, while her nails had extended past her fingertips, curving into black, sharp points that looked strong—not like keratin but some kind of metal.
Her ears had elongated even more than they already were, with the tips reaching past the top of her skull, and her eyes had turned completely black—no whites, no iris, just solid black orbs.
She was also noticeably taller; having seen her back in Ashwick, where she was an average five foot six, Reidar saw that she now stood closer to six feet, with a frame that had expanded from its previously thin state into one with broader shoulders and thicker limbs.
Her skin had become almost white, not just pale as it was before, and it got a texture that looked like it was starting to harden.
Plus, Mara looked feral, exhibiting the same feral behaviors Reidar had seen in the Ignis.
And yet, she was still working on the circle, waiting for it to do its magic, all while muttering words Reidar couldn't hear through the Sky-Hunter but that surely a feral creature could not pronounce.
<Is there still a human inside her?>
The Ignis he fought were mindless. They were beasts wearing the bodies of a dead civilization.
But Mara was building a portal. That required knowledge and planning. She was using magic, which required focus and intent.
<Maybe she isn't completely feral. Maybe the mutation process was slower for her, or she managed somehow to stay sane.>
Or maybe she was fighting it, holding onto her humanity through sheer willpower.
The name tag didn't say "Feral" in front of her name. It just said [Mara Icro—Level 533]. Which meant there was no sign that she'd lost her mind.
<That means she's still in control. For now.>
But how long would that last? The journal said the transformation accelerated after Level 450. Mara was at 533. She was deep into the danger zone. Gaining each level brought her closer to the edge.
Reidar watched through the Sky-Hunter's eyes as Mara finished adjusting a catalyst. She stepped back and looked at the circle as a whole, her black eyes scanning the pattern.
She nodded once, satisfied.
The vortex above the palace responded. It spun faster; the purple and black clouds churned. Lightning struck the roof.
The portal was opening.
Reidar pulled his vision back to his own eyes. He was still in the corridor, with the wolves and Shadow Sovereigns around him.
<I'm out of time.>
He needed to reach that room. Now.