I Received System to Become Dragonborn Chapter 1397: Sudden Weakness

Erend kept his gaze on the massive portal while the contained fragnt floated steadily within its cage of silver and blue light.

The expedition mbers had already begun gathering around the transport point while the mages carefully monitored the stability of the containnt barriers.

Relief was still clearly visible across many faces, but nobody allowed themselves to beco careless. Their mission here had succeeded but the true battle still waited for them back in Leonora.

The lead knight stepped closer to Erend and glanced toward the fragnt before speaking in a firm voice. "We should move imdiately. Every minute matters now."

Erend nodded and said, "Before we leave, I need to tell the others sothing. The Dragon Magic helped the containnt process far more than expected. If Eccar, Aesa, and Sylven do the sa, they should be able to finish their own expedition much faster."

The knight imdiately agreed. He said, "Then you need to contact them now. If it helps them secure their fragnts sooner, they need to know. The sooner all of us return to the capitals, the sooner we can deal with the situation there."

Without wasting another mont, Erend closed his eyes and expanded his consciousness through the telepathic bond connecting the Dragonborn.

The familiar presences appeared almost imdiately.

"Erend?" Eccar’s voice arrived first.

"Did sothing happen?" Aesa asked.

"Is the fragnt there secure?" Sylven followed.

"Yes. We finished the containnt process here," Erend replied. "But I discovered sothing important. During the final stage, I supplied Dragon Magic directly to the mages. It strengthened the formations, reduced their burden, and significantly accelerated synchronization with the fragnt with my Magic."

A brief silence followed.

"Seriously?" Eccar said.

"That would explain why your operation finished so quickly," Aesa replied.

"Okay. Then we should also use it imdiately!" Sylven said.

"Exactly," Erend answered. "All of you should channel your Dragon Magic into the containnt formations. The mages will be able to work faster and conserve more of their Magic energy. We need every fragnt secured as soon as possible. I also controlled my clone to do the sa."

"Understood. I’ll start right now," Eccar said.

"Hmm," Aesa agreed with a grunt.

"I’ll inform my mages imdiately," Sylven added.

"Good. Don’t waste ti. We need everyone back in the kingdoms as quickly as possible."

"We’ll see you back ho," Eccar said.

"Stay alive until then," Aesa added.

"Let’s finish this," Sylven concluded.

The telepathic connection faded monts later as all four Dragonborn returned their attention to their respective expeditions.

Erend opened his eyes and looked toward the portal once more. The contained fragnt hovered at the center of the formation while squads of knights and mages carefully escorted it forward.

No further orders were necessary. The expedition imdiately began moving.

One by one, the knights entered the portal. The mages followed closely behind while maintaining the containnt arrays surrounding the fragnt.

The cage of ancient light passed through the portal next, its silver and blue glow illuminating the golden gateway.

Erend entered last.

As the portal swallowed him, the fragnt, and the entire expedition, the basin fell silent behind them.

Their mission in this corner of the corrupted world had finally ended.

Now they were going ho.

—

The journey through the portal did not feel right.

The mont Erend stepped through the Magical gateway behind the contained fragnt he expected the familiar sensation of spatial transportation that he had experienced countless tis before. Normally such transitions lasted only monts. A brief distortion would pass over the body before the traveler erged at the destination.

This ti was different. The expedition imdiately felt it.

The Magical tunnel surrounding them seed far longer than it should have been. Layers of distorted space stretched endlessly in every direction while streams of golden energy twisted around them in turbulent currents.

Several knights exchanged uneasy looks.

One of the younger mages frowned and asked, "Does anyone else feel that?"

"The spatial flow is unstable," A senior mage said while nodding grimly.

The distortion pressed against them from all sides. It felt as if sothing was interfering with the pathway. Waves of pressure occasionally rippled through the tunnel and caused the surrounding light to fluctuate.

Even the fragnt’s containnt cage reacted.

The silver blue barriers brightened whenever another wave of distortion passed through the transport corridor.

Imdiately, several mages reinforced the containnt arrays again.

Their voices echoed through the distorted passage.

Erend remained silent.

That strange sensation he had felt earlier returned once again.

The invisible shaking beyond reality felt stronger. It almost seed as though multiple forces were colliding sowhere far beyond the physical world.

He was certain that the Void Architect was responsible for this.

Then the pressure suddenly disappeared. The distorted tunnel collapsed. The light ahead brightened.

A mont later, the expedition erged from the portal.

Air struck their faces. The familiar surroundings of Leonora appeared before them.

The large yard in front of the royal palace stretched across the area.

But it no longer looked like the place they rembered.

The mont the expedition stepped out, silence fell over the group and shock spread across their faces.

The destruction was everywhere. Entire sections of the palace grounds had been shattered. Deep craters scarred the stone pathways. Several decorative towers that had once stood proudly around the courtyard had partially collapsed. Rubble littered large portions of the area.

The distant sounds of battle still echoed through the city.

Explosions flashed beyond the palace walls.

Columns of smoke rose into the sky from multiple places.

Several buildings visible from the palace grounds were burning.

The sll of ash hung heavily in the air.

A knight stared toward the city beyond the walls. "This can’t be Leonora."

But it was.

The realization struck harder with every passing second.

The expedition had left only a short ti ago, yet the capital looked as if it had endured weeks of warfare.

The mages stood frozen while staring at the devastation.

Many of them had prepared themselves ntally for bad news but none of them had prepared for this.

"How many people died while we were gone?"

Nobody answered because nobody wanted to know.

At the center of the group, Erend slowly surveyed the ruined capital.

The fear he had seen in the eyes of the expedition mbers throughout the journey suddenly made perfect sense.

The Void Architect had not wasted a single mont.

While they had been fighting to secure the fragnt, the war had continued without them.

Judging from what now stood before his eyes, Leonora had paid a terrible price.

"We have to move!"

But before he could do that, Erend dropped to his knees, feeling a sudden weakness attacked him.

—