Supreme Magus novel Chapter 4451

Chapter 4451: Grindstone Fortress (Part 1)

"Everything is fine back at home, instead. Dripha has started eating again." Solus said. "Meeting her parents regularly seems to have helped her regain her appetite. Are you sure you want me to join you? The Gernoffs might attack at any moment."

"Unlikely." Lith replied. "Jirni didn’t factor you in her plans, yet she felt safe sending me away. We might not know what she’s plotting, but the Gernoffs must have an inkling of it, or they wouldn’t be so cautious.

"This case gives me plenty of reasons to be worried, instead. The mysterious friend of the Blood Axes has inside knowledge of Keyla’s plans, a vast network of operatives, and enough resources to protect their assets across the Distar Region.

"I need you there to be my eyes, ears, and, if necessary, my second brain. I might miss something important if shit hits the fan. If that happens, everything we have worked so far would be for nothing."

"What about Tista?" She asked.

"That would be the perfect way to scream my name from the rooftops and let everybody know of my involvement. She’s far from inconspicuous, no matter the form she takes."

"I see what you mean." Solus nodded. "You can disguise Ragnarök as a regular sword, but a human using battle claws is unheard of. Not to mention seeing a man and a woman who both have uncanny magical powers moving together in Distar would make things too obvious.

"I’ll be there in a second."

She used the Mirror Warp to reach a point close to Lith’s flight path, and they met halfway. Only then did Lith share the results of his experiment with the Dread Runes.

’Conjuring the runes in Kharam’s mind was a stroke of genius. A mean, ruthless stroke, but genius nonetheless.’ She said.

’I guessed that if even a mage as powerful as you can barely stare at the Dread Runes, a regular human like him would fold like a cheap shirt. I was right.’ Lith replied. ’Did you find a mana geyser along the way? We could use the Prime Engine.’

’Sorry, but no. We’ve already reached our destination, and we didn’t run into a single one.’ Solus pointed at an allegedly deserted area of the Verrun Woods where the Eyes spotted a large dome of energy in the distance.

’It’s an underground network of tunnels. Not the kind of thing a gang of bandits would build. Especially because those temporary arrays are worth more than what they earn in a year. Whoever their backer is, they have considerable magic skills.’

’How many ways out of there?’ Lith asked.

’Between secondary entrances and secret passages, half a dozen, but none is magical.’ Solus replied. ’There is no trace of dimensional devices.’

’It makes sense.’ Lith nodded. ’A Warp Gate would cost too much, while an old Gate would lead us straight to this mysterious friend.’

’There is also no way to deactivate those protective arrays from the outside.’ Solus pointed out. ’We can only breach them. What’s the plan?’

’We hit them so hard and fast that the Blood Axes won’t understand what’s happening until it’s too late.’ Lith took several deep breaths of Invigoration, calling upon his Sigil Demons and bringing them all to seven eyes as he shared his plan.

’Are the six of us enough, or do you think I should summon a few more Demons?’ Lith asked Locrias and Varegrave, the only ones who had experience leading a small strike team against a large number of weaker enemies.

’We need at least six more.’ Varegrave said. ’We need to attack all the access points at the same time to spread the bandits’ forces thin and keep our mark from escaping.’

’Success or failure of a single ambush is of little importance. As long as my men avoid capture, there will always be another chance.’ Mak thought.

’I’ve given my lieutenants clear instructions to report to me whenever they encounter an anomaly or finish a mission, yet it’s been too long since I’ve last heard from Kahram.

’Even if the Lark caravan was heavily guarded and he still decided to proceed with the attack, by now he should have contacted me and reported the outcome of the battle. Maybe I should-’

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