Dance with the Nightingale-Chapter 108 - 103: Hell on Earth

After quickly cremating Scheleth, Amy and I started tracking Fostoria, of course it was mostly Amy doing the work, as she concentrated to locate the elf.

Thankfully, Lueurre was just a small city just about 20 sq. kilometers in area so Amy could still feel her mana and track her down, though that compromised her stealth abilities a little, as long as she didn’t flare up her mana, she was in the safe.

Not long after, she opened her eyes and offered me her hand, which I gladly took, and then, just like a drop of ink, we dissolved into the shadows.

Of course, I never got used to it, no matter how many times it happened. Cause in the shadows, I was blind, I was deaf, I was mute, and I was anosmic, the only thing I could feel was the coldness the shadows emitted. The older they were the colder they felt, and among them Amy was by far the coldest.

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Wait, that sounded odd. That didn’t mean to imply that I was calling her older, I simply meant that her shadow was the strongest, at least that was what I felt, even though the sensation lasted only for a moment as we appeared in another part of the city in a single step.

We appeared on the rooftop of some building, as Amy pointed to one of the many buildings around us.

"There, on the 2nd floor, left wing. I can sense her putting on some magical artefacts.", Amy said with glowing eyes.

With eyes glowing with tri-colored leaves, I could also see the presence of her mana in the room, but unlike Amy that was the only thing I could see.

"Then, let’s confront her, we are short on time anyways.", I said as jumped towards the building.

But I never landed.

"Wha-!"

Before I could utter a word, someone, or rather Amy snatched me in the air like a popcorn, while the shadows around her swallowed me whole along with her figure.

Not for a moment did I consider Amy betraying me, but I was still rather confused.

Though, before I could ask why, a mind link, sharing with me her senses, latched onto me.

’How come she knows me so well?’, was the question in my mind.

Deep down though, I was bitter.

’I should’ve married her!’, I lamented.

Of course, while being careful to not project such thoughts to my maid, I saw the world as she saw.

Honestly, it was a disappointing. Cause it was the same world that I saw, nothing different other than the fact that she could hear things much better…

Or so I thought at first.

I don’t know what changed after that, I guess Amy just started concentrating, but as soon as she did, the world slowly came to still. The noises that she heard got louder, as if people by the road were talking right into her ear, but not just that, the sounds that she didn’t want to hear were slowly disappearing to, being filtered out one by one. And though I said slow, I meant slow from Amy’s perspective, cause this all happened before a fly could flap its wings.

With so much data coming into my brain so fast, I was barely able to process it. It felt like my brain was overheating, and maybe it really was.

Thankfully, Amy realized this too, so she filtered out the info that she shared over the mind link. It was only after all that, that I was able to hear it, the sound of something, someone, tearing the air apart as it came right at us.

’A Archmage?!!’, I thought out loud, almost baffled.

’Yes, Young Master.’, Amy replied, ’A Archmage of Anias faction, the 4th shield, Archmage Helden Marvok, also known as the Elementalist.’

’I- I see…’, hearing Amy’s calm tone I calmed down more than little and finally thought, ’Yea, its not strange for a Archmage to deployed when other factions are involved, especially when they knew about the presence of Tree of Light beforehand… Amy did a good thing calling Zuri here.’

’Why thank you, Young Master~. But you don’t have to worry. There are very few Archmages in the world who can trouble me.’

Okay, maybe I wasn’t as calm as I claimed to be considering my thoughts were being leaked over the mind link.

It was only after a couple of to and fros, between us, that the Archmage in question arrived. Five seconds in reality, a good tea time from Amy perspective, and a headache from mine.

I guess my brain still wasn’t ready to have a conversation in ultra-slowed time.

Meanwhile, the Elementalist suddenly disappeared mid-air, making me wonder what’s going on.

’He is hiding, Young Master. This is imperial territory, rather than causing ruckus, even an Archmage would want do things stealthily here if they could.’, Amy explained. ’Since he is not putting his all into stealth, I can still sense him, here.’

Amy said, before the Elementalist came into my view again, floating not more than 12 meters away from me, and yet we stayed undetected. It was only then, did I focus on his features, starting from his gentle blue eyes and greyed hair to his perfect jawline and nonchalant look.

’Can’t you kill him at this distance?’

I asked it as a purely rhetorical question.

’I can, though most of the city would be destroyed in our fight.’

’Can’t you just assassinate him?’

’Assassination is difficult at higher levels, Young Master. As soon as I harbor killing intent for him, his instincts will warn him of danger. No matter how short the time window it grants him, he should be able to avoid one hit kill.’, Amy patiently explained as we monitored the Archmage.

With her senses still being transmitted over to me, I could keenly sense just how powerful the old man floating it the air was, the depths of his power still unknown.

"It looks like they are packing up to leave. Are we not making a move, Young Master?"

"Amy, you shouldn’t ask questions to which you already know the answers. Of course, we aren’t making a move! After all it wouldn’t be kind of us to reject a jungle guide ready to brave dangers in our place.", I said in a charlatan tone.

"As you wish. It’ll also give Zuri enough time to be here too."

"Yeah. I just hope Cana and Syrus wrap it all up by the time we return."

"Young Master should consider switching retainers if they couldn’t do even that."

"Stop that. They’re trying their best y’know."

"If you say so, Young Master."

We continued bickering for a short while as we monitored the building for any signs of motion. And we didn’t have to wait for long, a carriage carrying an old man and elf departed from the building, heading straight for the Misty Root Forest.

Needless to say, we followed.

***

[A few hours ago]

[The Misty Root Forest]

[Central Region]

[A few hours earlier]

Two days passed since Agnil’s arrival at the Central Region of Misty Root Forest. They were two dreadful days.

He had to be on edge every time the demon made a move. Not to mention the fight that happened with the three kings of the forest. He was also C ranked magic user in his own right, but he almost died several times during that fight.

Honestly, Agnil’s mind was exhausted.

He was waiting, waiting for the moment the demon dropped his guard down, so that he could use ’that’ but he just couldn’t find one. The demon was too alert even in his, a weaker being’s presence. And there was no guarantee that the demon would die even after using ’that’.

But he couldn’t wait anymore.

’If I do, I’m afraid it’ll be too late…’, Agnil thought as he looked at the demon drawing a magic circle using the three kings’ blood and carcasses.

For a moment, his gaze went past the demon’s figure and landed on the cave behind him. It was a cave made of roots, more specifically Atlas’ roots. And in it, resided the main body of Tree of Light.

Yes, he had lead the demon right at it. But as he expected, the demon couldn’t enter the cave. That place was so full of all positive powers that exist, that a negative being like the demon couldn’t hope to enter it.

At first, he hoped to lure the demon in the cave and use ’that’ to kill it, but the demon was more cautious than he expected. Not only did he not enter the cave, he didn’t allow Agnil to enter it either, crushing another one of Agnil’s plans.

Instead, the demon scouted the cave with his aura, or so he tried, only for his aura and mental senses to be completely obliterated.

Agnil believed it was his moment to strike, but before he could act, the demon moved first. It launched a spear made of darkness that pierced his arm and flung him backward, leaving him hanging like a wet cloth from a tree.

"Does it hurt? It should. Cause it hurts more for me!", the demon threatened him as he twisted the spear out of his body leaving him to bleed out.

After that, the demon did a number of things, like drawing demonic magic circles.

The materials, or rather the three forest king’s bodies were being used up slowly as the demon drew more and more magic circles, and from the way the demon looked at him, Agnil had no doubt that he would join those materials if things kept going like this.

So, even though Agnil didn’t quite understand what the demon was trying to accomplish, but was failing, he couldn’t even feel good about that. Instead, he had mixed feelings, that was until now…

Today, at the crack of the dawn, something different happened.

At first, it was just a chill, an ominous that was all too common to be disregarded, and that’s what Agnil did.

But as time passed, as the three lifegiving suns climbed higher and higher into the sky, things started to get weird.

The first the feel the difference were insects, as life was abundant and overflowing in the central region, there were a whole lot of them living there.

And even with Agnil’s broken arm distracting him, he couldn’t miss how weird their movements were. It was as if they were running away…

…a few hours later he was envious of their luck that they could.

A few hours. It only took that much time for the place that was full of light and holy to reek of death.

All the animals had fled from the area, a death zone of 200 meters radius, and those who couldn’t lay dead on the ground as if asleep, cause even the bacteria that were supposed to decompose them had died. The trees had withered, their huge, cracked trunks making it hard to imagine their once-majestic foliage.

Even Agnil himself, was greatly affected. Thanks to the aura of life and some potions, his hand was recovering well. In fact, he felt younger than before, as if he had been rejuvenated. Maybe, that was the reason he was able to focus for so long and keep his life, but that ended now.

He couldn’t live when the land itself was dying. Just like the cracked trees he felt withered, his arm which was slowly recovering, instead became an outlet of his life force, draining out red blood from his body, painting the faded land red.

-Cough, cough.

Coughing, Agnil looked around, only finding death too occupy his now misty eyes, as the phrase, hell on Earth (Rowen) never sounded truer to him.

In that hell, he couldn’t wait for help anymore.

He had to act, now!