Chapter 3995: Heat Haze (Part 2)

’Even with the best preparations, what would stop the Yellow Wind soldiers from chasing and slaughtering you all once they notice your disappearance?’

’Fuck me sideways, Solus, you are right.’ Lith replied, looking at his scaled hand as if it had betrayed him. ’I’m starting to forget what being a normal human feels like.’

’I hear you.’ Solus sighed. ’I don’t like to admit it either, but I’ve gotten so used to the extra mass and strength that the tower grants me that I don’t know what I would do if I suddenly became a regular Awakened.

’If not for Meln, I’d propose to seal our powers once in a while and spend a few days as magicless humans.’

’Seal how?’ Lith asked.

’The Odi chains.’ Solus replied. ’We can ask Faluel to lend them to us.’

’Yeah, right.’ Lith snorted. ’She wouldn’t trust us not to crack the Council’s secrets with the Thievery. Also, I doubt you can wear the Odi chains, Solus. If their enchantments mess with your bond with the tower, you might get hurt.’

"So what do we do?" Nalrond asked while Solus realized how dangerous the Odi chains were for her.

"We prepare the field and attack, of course." Friya replied. "Your plan is good, Nalrond. It only needs a few tweaks. Lith, Solus."

She turned towards her friends.

"Please, let me and Nalrond deal with the Yellow Wind tribe. You surround the village and make sure that no one escapes. Do not intervene unless I ask you to."

"What if they use the hostages against you?" Lith asked. "What if they have a hidden ace in the hole and one of you gets hurt?"

"I may not be a paranoid control freak like you, Lith, but I’m not stupid either." Friya replied. "Listen to my plan and tell me if it’s to your liking."

***

A few minutes later, Nalrond swam past the Blood Desert’s sand and into the fertile ground of the oasis in his Agni form.

’I can see how Lith achieved his stellar reputation in the army as a Ranger.’ He said via the mind link. ’This is straight cheating.’

Once inside the area of effect of the mana geyser, the stone ring on his finger received all the world energy it needed to fuel the Eyes and Ears of Menadion at the same time.

Nalrond used the artifacts’ readings to identify the focus points of the three sets of arrays and placed a hard-light bead directly below them.

’Thanks, but to be fair, back then we were much weaker and had yet to recover a single piece of the Mom set.’ Solus chuckled. ’Also, we didn’t have Demons either.’

Menadion travelled along with them, hidden in Nalrond’s shadow. She wore the second Monocle in order to split the mental burden from the use of the artifacts among the three Awakened and the tower.

’That’s true, but I remember that your mana sense was awesome, and even without your body, your mind is a damn powerful tool, Solus.’ Nalrond stopped for a few seconds before planting every bead, checking for traps or alarms he might have missed.

’My mana sense *is* awesome.’ Solus corrected him. ’I’m not using it right now only because with the mana geyser fueling the Eyes, it would be redundant.’

’Shush, kids. Mommy is trying to work.’ While Solus and Nalrond focused on sabotaging the magical formations, Menadion stared intently at them in an attempt to steal their secrets. ’By the gods, whoever invented this light-distorting array was a genius.’

’Is it better than the invisibility spell with which you enchanted the tower, Mom?’ Solus asked.

’Don’t be silly, Epphy. There is no such thing as an invisibility spell.’ Menadion replied. ’My enchantment simply projects a hologram of the area eclipsed by each side of the tower on its surface to hide its presence, but it’s no invisibility.

’The spell works only because the tower’s shape and position are fixed. It wouldn’t work on someone or something that moves. That’s why it can’t cloak those who enter or leave the tower.

’Your gait, steps, and hair move every second in a different, unpredictable way that my enchantment can’t follow.’

’Yet these magical formations do.’ Solus said.

’And that’s why I said that the mage who came up with them must be a genius.’ Menadion grunted. ’Can you please be quiet for one second? Once we destroy the arrays, I won’t be able to study them anymore.’

’What about the Eyes?’ Solus asked.

’The Eyes only record the portion of the magical formation they have analyzed, whereas I can memorize its every rune even though I don’t understand how they work.’ Menadion replied. ’But only if you stay quiet, Epphy.’

’I’m sorry, Mom.’ Solus whimpered.

Nalrond stayed out of the mother-daughter quarrel, focusing solely on the active and inactive magical formations.

’This thing is an arsenal.’ He thought.

Once the defensive system replaced the cloaking array, the barrier would take the lion’s share of the world energy, but there would still be plenty left to fuel a full battery of offensive enchantments.

Each one of them was as strong as a tier five spell and would consume no mana, allowing for a never-ending barrage.

’Solus, how can a mere temporary formation be stronger than the permanent arrays that protect the Verhen Mansion?’ Nalrond asked after he had completed his task, but before leaving the stone ring in the middle of the geyser.

’It’s not stronger. Quite the contrary.’ She replied. ’It’s much weaker than our defensive system. It only gives the impression of being better because it’s more focused.

’The mana geyser below the Mansion fuels the tower and dozens of different arrays that encompass the main building, the park, and even part of the Trawn Woods. This one, instead, only covers a small village and fuels only two types of arrays at a time.

’We sacrificed raw power for extreme versatility, whereas the Yellow Wind tribe is a three-tricks pony.’

’I see.’ Nalrond inwardly nodded. ’Please, take over the geyser with the tower and be ready to intervene the moment something goes awry. I don’t care what Friya says. I’d rather anger her and keep her and our babies safe than let them get hurt to humor her.’

’Don’t worry, I got your back.’ Solus telepathically winked.

***

A few seconds later, Nalrond emerged from a ripple in the ground at Lith’s feet. No grain of sand remained on him, each one of them dripping off his gray scales akin to drops of water thanks to his bloodline ability.

"The groundwork is set. We can move in at any time." He handed one Monocle to Lith to restore his mind link with Solus and the other to Friya to keep the communications with Lith and Solus open despite the distance.

"Just a second." Friya closed her eyes and used a chore magic spell to dry her skin and give herself the appearance of someone who had been stranded in the Desert for at least two days.

"This isn’t good enough. I’m tanned, not sunburned." She said while checking the results of her work in a mirror.

She took makeup out of her dimensional amulet and applied it to redden her cheeks and forehead.

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