Chapter 3139 Ensnared (Part 1)

Chapter 3139 Ensnared (Part 1)

While Solus and Strider checked the perimeter from the ground, Lith took flight to observe the situation from above.

He used his Tiamat eyes to look into every shadow and possible hiding spot for over half a kilometer, but found nothing. Lith even took a deep scan of Strider to appease his paranoia, making sure that he was the Zouwu Lith knew and that there was nothing suspicious about him or his equipment.

'That does it! I need therapy.' Lith thought while coming down to the ground after the Eyes of Menadion confirmed everything he already knew about Strider.

'The quickest way to smoke Vidun out is using Disarray.' Strider proposed via a mind link. 'We'll tear his defenses down and force him to surrender.'

'What about the grimoire?' Solus had a hard time keeping anger out of her thoughts. 'What if you blow it up or the pages get burned?'

'If the book belonged to the First Ruler of the Flames, it should have a few protections and self-repair spells.' He shrugged.

'Emphasis on "should", here.' She grunted. Nnêw n0vel chapters are published at novelhall.com down. You weren't joking when you said you are a big fan of Menadion.' The poor Zouwu had no idea why she worried so much about a grimoire outdated by 700 years. 'If you don't want to use Disarray, what's the plan?'

Solus pondered the question for a while before answering.

'First, I'd like to talk to this guy. Maybe we can buy the book from him.'

'Talk?' Both Lith and Strider were flabbergasted.

'Well, yeah. According to what we know, Vidun didn't steal the grimoire. He found it. If we take it by force, we become the bad guys.' Solus replied.

'And what if he doesn't want to talk or sell it?' Lith asked. 'We'd lose the element of surprise, and if he runs away, someone else will take the grimoire. The idiot burned his identity and we are not the only ones chasing him.'

'Then you two hide and be ready to intervene.' Solus said. 'This way, if I can't reason with him, you can keep him from escaping.'

Cursing telepathically like two sailors, the Tiamat and the Zouwu positioned themselves at either side of the cabin to assume a triangle formation with Solus.Follow the latest novels at novelhall.com

"Excuse me? Mister Vidun Phorr?" Solus stood up, making herself visible from a safe distance. "My name is Solus. I work with the Hand of Fate. I can show you my badge if you want."

"Good point." Solus sighed, baffled by the absurdity of that conversation. "Now that we have been honest with each other, please come out, and let's solve this amicably."

"Yeah, right." He scoffed. "And what would stop you from killing me and taking the book by force?"

"Nothing." Solus admitted. "Just like nothing stops me right now but my own goodwill."

"Liar! You are scared of my arrays!"

"Please!" The mockery that Solus had fought hard to keep back broke the dam of her throat. "This crap is tier four and you have just so candidly admitted you don't know anything aside from dimensional magic.

"I don't need spells to bust your arrays and ass open."

"Try it if you can." Vidun slammed the door closed and took control of the arrays.

Now their activation and effects would answer his every command.

"Don't mind if I do!" Solus took the Fury out of her pocket dimension and slammed it against the ground with one-tenth of her strength.

The impact caused a shockwave that nothing had of magical so the earth-blocking array couldn't stop it. A spiderweb of cracks spread from the Fury, dislodging the runes that kept the arrays together and displacing the mana crystals fueling them.

The air pressure was more than an old, rotten shack could take. It tore apart the wooden walls and sent Vidun to fall flat on his butt.

"Now the grimoire, please." Solus Blinked in front of him as the magical formation faded away into sparkles of light.

"If you want it, you'll have to kill me." Vidun turtled up, clenching what looked like an old book to his chest.

"Why? Is it imprinted?" Solus stayed her hand.

"No. I mean, yes! I mean..." Vidun tried and failed to find an excuse to force the violent Awakened not to kill him.

"Look, pal, I wasn't lying before. The Undead Courts are looking for you and they are not the only ones." She offered him her hand to stand up while keeping Life Vision on him. "Is this how you want to spend the rest of your life?

"Running and hiding? Based on your banter, I assumed you had a secret lab and were a powerful Forgemaster. Instead, you have no specialization, no safe place, nothing!"