Capítulo 1215: True Objective
Six months later, Edward found his arcane progress had advanced by leaps and bounds.
The progress he had made in this underground chamber in these past months would have taken him years above ground. If he could, he would have simply preferred to stay in this mana paradise until he ford a mana core and advanced to the next rank.
But of course, such a scenario wasn’t possible. After all, Berger had finally finished what he had co here to do. And today, Edward would finally learn what the true objective of Operation Constantine was.
Carving the final rune on the floor, Berger exhaled a heavy sigh of relief. He wiped the sweat on his forehead and finally stood back up.
He stretched his upper body, grunting in frustration, “Ugh, my back!”
“Is it finished?” Blackie appeared beside him, curiously gazing at the final rune symbol the gno had just completed.
“Yes.” Berger nodded.
Glancing at the floor full of runes carved with the infernac language, the gno couldn’t help but feel a sense of achievent. Considering how greatly his actions had altered the fate of the world—if only a little—he felt quite accomplished.
But he knew that all of this had only been possible because of Adam. Truth be told, his own knowledge of rune magic wasn’t so great so as to alter the function of the portal.
Surprisingly, Adam’s attainnts in rune magic were great enough to make the impossible possible. Moreover, all of this was done without alerting the Cult Leader.
The gno sighed, “How does he even know all of this? He should be in his thirties, yet he knows things that would take an arcane scholar hundreds, if not thousands of years to comprehend.”
Blackie shook his head. “The boy is full of mysteries.”
He then looked at the gno and said with a faint smile, “It’s what drew you to him all those years ago when he visited your herb store, is it not?”
Berger’s eyes flashed with reminiscence. He said with a faint nod, “Yes… those were the good days.”
Finally, Edward couldn’t take it in any longer, and blurted out, “So what’s going to happen now? Are we destroying the thing or what?”
Berger turned to the blue-eyed youth with a raised brow. “Such a fine thing the Cult Leader has established, why would we destroy it?”
“…Then what?” Edward asked with bated breath. “What are we doing with it?”
“You lack patience, boy.” Berger scoffed.
He then turned to the portal, his eyes flashing with seriousness. He took a deep breath, then slowly started to weave a complex set of hand seals. His motions were slow at first, but soon his hands turned into a shadowy blur.
The mysterious runes etched on the ground flared to life. They glowed with a blinding white light that spread across the vast chamber in brilliant lines and patterns. The air resonated with mana, vibrating against the walls and sending dust trickling from the ceiling.
Edward watched everything unfold with bated breath, his fists involuntarily clenching. Then, what he saw next caused his eyes to turn wide as saucers…
At the center, the portal pulsed violently. The reddish glow that had been seeping from its surface flickered, then slowly started to shift in color. Soon, the crimson glow gave way to a deep, dark blue that spilled across the chamber, painting the stone in cold shades.
The atmosphere grew heavier, the mana beca denser, and the transformation of the portal continued.
It was a good thing that Berger had deactivated all the trap chanisms all those months ago. Or else, such a strong reaction from the portal would have surely alerted the Cult Leader on the other side of the world.
After what felt like forever, the transformation was finally completed. The first change that Edward noticed, apart from the change in the portal’s color, was the fall in mana density. Moreover, the density continued to plumt rapidly.
“Wh-what is happening?!” He yelped in surprise. “Why is the mana…”
anwhile, Berger and Blackie sighed in relief. The forr retrieved his pipe and took a long drag from it. “It’s a success.”
“Good work.” Blackie nodded.
“What… what is going on?!” Edward’s incredulous words echoed in the chamber.
The elderly gno grumbled. He turned around and spat, “Boy, you sure scream and panic a lot for a Magus of your station.”
Blackie shook his head, sighing helplessly. “He’s still a child, Berger…”
“Huh?” Edward’s gaze shifted continuously between the gno and the wolf. “What—”
However, the gno cut him off. He grabbed the youth by his collar and grinned, “You wanted to know what we were going to do with the portal, eh?”
Then, he positioned himself, his grin turning wider. “How about you see it for yourself?”
The next mont, before Edward realized what was happening… Berger hurled him straight into the portal!
Seeing the strange turn of events, Blackie was a little speechless. He then shook his head and walked towards the portal. “I’ll go check on him.”
With that said, he, too, jumped straight into the portal.
Berger’s work wasn’t done yet. He altered the runes on the ground, employing an illusion over the place. This was done to make it look like nothing had changed. After activating the illusion formation, he cast one final look at the chamber, then muttered:
“One down, five to go…”
Then, he stepped inside the portal.
***
Berger exited the portal on the other side, appearing in a similar underground chamber. He looked around and nodded. “Well, this needs so work.”
He then climbed the stairs and arrived at a smaller chamber. Berger and Edward were waiting there for him. While the wolf curiously looked around the place, he couldn’t help but state:
“More than twenty years later, back where it all first began…”
anwhile, Edward had a shocked expression on his face. When he looked at the vast chamber, mories resurfaced inside his mind. For a long ti, he didn’t know what to say. In truth, he couldn’t believe what had just transpired.
Berger walked up to him, a playful smirk on his face. “Now do you realize, boy?”
Edward snapped out of his shock. He turned to the gno and managed to muster a few words. “Old man… don’t tell … this… this…”
“Yes.” Berger nodded, casually taking a drag from the long, wooden pipe.
Exhaling a plu of smoke to the side, he confird Edward’s speculations:
“We are underneath Hannes City.”
User Comments
0 comments from readers