150 4.12 The seal that freezes time - Part 1

I was planning to try supplying my own mana first to see what happens, and based on the outcome, I could decide whether I should use the surrounding mana or not.

Since the door was already within some kind of barrier, I touched the ground and slowly supplied mana towards the manor. As I was doing that, I realized this whole process was more delicate than I thought. I needed a lot more focus, so I closed my eyes and focused only on the supply of mana.

When my mana reached the door, I could visualize the seal in my head. It was some sort of ancient three-dimensional seal that occupied the whole manor.

I couldn't pass my mana through the door because the moment it touched the door, it started spreading throughout the seal in the outer wall. I didn't have enough mana to pass it inside, but in an attempt to do so, I realized that there was a magic circle below the manor, which acted as the power source of this seal.

When I looked into the circle, I could visualize that it was unlike anything I had ever seen before. It was in the shape of a pentagram, but it wasn't made of straight lines. Instead, it was made up of some sort of ancient text that I couldn't read.

The circle was drawing mana out of the earth and supplying it to the seal. It was probably what kept this placed intact all this time.

It took me a while to analyze everything I could find, and once I was done, I pulled the mana back and stopped supplying more.

I was focused entirely on the supply of mana to the point that I had even forgotten breathing. As soon as I came back to my senses, I took a few long breaths to fix my breathing. While I was doing that, Marus, who was watching me from behind, approached me.

"Are you alright, Nara?"

"Yes, Just a little out of breath, but nothing major"— I stood straight and composed myself— "There seems to be some kind of power source underneath the manor which is supplying the mana required to maintain the seal. I couldn't see what's inside the manor, but if we supply a huge burst of mana while it is still functional, we might be able to bring down the whole thing by overpowering it."

Markus nodded as he looked towards the manor. "But won't it be better just to cut off the supply of mana?"

"It would, but it appears as though there is something inside that's storing the supplied mana. I won't be able to control the surrounding mana, so analyzing the whole thing is impossible. Our only option is to overpower it in the hopes that it will break."

"Alright. Good luck then."

Markus walked back and distanced himself while I prepared myself to manipulate the surrounding mana. It was going be hard, and if it doesn't work out, the likely consequence was me fainting. So, I was hoping that it would work out this once.

Although, this time, it was a little easier than my past uses. All that I had to do was collect it and send it towards the seal.

I took a long breath as I started collecting the surrounding mana and supplying it.

This time I could feel the entire outer wall, the rooms inside, the floor, and the roof. I could also completely feel the magic circle below me and how it was sending mana directly from its center. 

While following the stream of mana flow like blood through one of the blood vessels, I came across the heart of this whole thing. It was the place where the mana was being supplied to, stored, and supplied from.

When I looked closer, I could sense that it was a coffin. And on a closer look, I could see that there was the human body inside the coffin which was regulating the whole thing.

I knew what I had to do next. I concentrated all the surrounding mana I had gathered in that one spot. Slowly, I could feel the mana I supplied blending with the mana that the magic circle was providing.

But right then, when everything was going as expected. I felt like something was pushing me back. And while I was trying to resist the push, I heard a voice.

"Who are you, and what do you want from me?"

And before I knew it, I could no longer feel my body. The next moment, my consciousness was drifting in some unfamiliar dark space with nothing as fas I could see.

"I am Nara. Whoever you are, I am not an enemy. I am only here to help."

"Help? How sweet. Do you really think I will fall for something like that?! I am not as naive as you think I am! If you want to help anyone, find someone else! Those tricks no longer work on me!"

It was a mature female voice with some hint of sweetness mixed in it. To put it simply, it was like someone soft trying to appear harsh.

By the voice, it was apparent that it was someone who had been betrayed several times in the past. When one's trust is betrayed by the those they believed, it would likely lead to them being able to trust no one. And in this case, only one person came to my mind who had been through that kind of situation — the queen.

Even though I could tell who that was, the hard part was just starting. I didn't know much about her and her personality, so it was going be difficult to make her trust me. And in this situation, as far as I could tell, it was impossible without someone she already knew and trusted.