Chapter 992: The Survivor II

Chapter 992: The Survivor II

[Youre not going to get through this way, human,] Xaphan chided.

Leon ignored the demon as he continued focusing his power on the smooth stone wall in front of him that the ninth-tier man had disappeared behind mere minutes before. Hed formed his magic into a spike and tried boring into the stone, his meager mastery over earth magic meaning he was trying a more brute force approach in simply trying to force the stone apart.

And so far, hed had little success.

[You might as well bash your head against the rock,] Xaphan said provokingly. [Your skull is undoubtedly tougher than it, so Im sure itll break before you do.]

[Demon,] Leon retorted exasperatedly, his concentration finally slipping as the rock stubbornly resisted his attempts to force his way in, [if you have nothing helpful to say, then why are you opening your mouth?]

[If my partner is doing something completely asinine, is it not my duty to get him to see sense? Am I not obligated to try and fix him?]

Leon exhaled in frustration in a vain attempt to vent some of his emotions. From saying goodbye to his family and friends to being sent through the Grave Wardens portal, fighting the creature beneath the wastes, and then finally chasing this one man through the mountains, only about an hour had passed, and Leons patience was in short supply.

[Fine,] Leon responded, his jaw clenching in vexation. [Have you some better method for trying to get through this wall?]

[Heh. Thousands, I have thousands of ways to get through that wall. As do you, if youd only stop and truly evaluate the situation. Stop, breathe, and try and actually use the shit between your ears.]

Leons eye twitched in irritation, but he knew Xaphan well at this point, and he could hear the wisdom in his words, hidden as they were behind copious amounts of venom.

So, he took a deep breath and steadied himself. He breathed in, and then out, this time succeeding more in his attempts to calm his frayed nerves. And then he reached out with his magic senses.

Whatever power in the air was suppressing his magic senses didnt hamper him much over such a short distance, so it wasnt hard for Leon to make a quick evaluation of the magic in the stone. Initially, he didnt sense much else that he hadnt beforethe stone in front of him seemed on the surface to be completely normal, but the moment his magic tried to sink in without considerable power backing it up, the stone forced it back out. Even with a more concentrated spike of power, his magic failed to penetrate farther than the length of his index finger.

Given the power he had at his disposal, he couldnt help but be particularly impressed at the strength and elegance of the caves defenses.

[Im not sensing much,] Leon admitted to his demonic partner. [The stone isnt giving anything away.]

[You humans and your tunnel vision] Xaphan dismissively crackled. [Widen your focus, boy, and take in more than just whats in front of your face. Maybe then youd actually see something.]

Leon rolled his eyes but did as he was bid. His magic senses rolled over the mountain, and at first, he didnt sense much more than what he had already; the mountain felt completely mundane save for the strangely magic-proof wall in front of him. However, as the seconds passed and his senses encompassed more and more of the mountain, he started analyzing more and more of the currents of magic that surrounded the mountain.

He'd invested a lot of time in studying defensive wards and how enchantments can affect the land they were placed upon, so he was able to quickly see that while it was subtle, the flow of magic around the mountain itself was unnatural. It was quite elegant, in his opinion, as if whatever enchantment he was now sensing was almost organically interwoven throughout the mountain range, designed to be spectacularly powerful yet not disturb the natural flow of magic through the mountains in any way.

From what he could sense, it wasnt quite perfect, but it was more than subtle enough that hed failed to see it until hed widened his field of view to take in more than what he was directly looking at.

Incredible, Leon thought as he took in the subtly-shifted currents and eddies. Orthodox doctrine for defensive wards had enchantments being smaller and subtler to try and avoid detection, yet this one was massive. He simply had to get a look at the underlying runic sch

[Demon,] Leon said, cutting off his train of thought. [Is this the work of an ancient rune?]

[Look at that, you do use your tiny little baby brain on occasion! If I had a cookie, Id give it to you as a reward. Good boy, take a notional pat on the head for figuring it out!]

So at a slower pace, Leon continued down the passageway, his eyes and magic senses sharpened by caution. The tracks he was following continued even further down the tunnel and turned eastward, back toward the first mountain hed investigated before encountering the object of his current hunt. Leon followed, disabling several more traps along the way, each one left with more and more subtlety, the last so invisible that hed come within a single step of triggering it before hed noticed.

Eventually, he reached a door blocking his pathnot a stone wall like what hed passed to enter the tunnels, but a properly carved door, made of local stone and decorated with geometric patterns. Leon could sense a fair amount of power flowing through the stone, which took him almost by surprise, as hed thought this one wouldve been just as protected as the outside wall.

As he approached the walls, a voice rang out, though he couldnt understand the words. He was, however, able to identify the speaker as not his quarry, which only left him with more questions.

I dont understand you! Leon responded, but the voice didnt say anything more.

[Probably a recording,] Xaphan said. [I doubt theres a need to respond.]

[There might be others watching,] Leon responded.

Xaphan grunted dismissively. [Its your breath to waste, kid.]

[Dont call me kid, demon.]

[Dont act like one, kid.]

Leon rolled his eyes and studied the door, paying his demon passenger no more mind.

The door was quite heavily secured, but in a far more conventional way than the exterior of the cave. Leon, feeling a bit impatient, simply pulled out another open rune and used it like a hammer; in seconds, the enchantments sealing the door melted away, and Leon pushed against it.

The door was stone, but it wasnt so heavy that Leon was unable to push it open. It swung inward on metal hinges, revealing a large chamber on the other side. It was a domed chamber, with floors made of some kind of dark marbly stone polished to a near-mirror shine, while above, the domed ceiling had been elaborately painted with dozens of different scenes that Leon could only assume held some kind of religious significance, as they mostly depicted humanoid figures bowing to larger animal-headed humanoids.

There were two other doors leading down into the chamber on the other side, flanking a massive wall covered in hundreds of carvings. The carvings appeared to be writing as far as Leon could tell, but only of short phrases, and each short section seemed to be in a different hand.

More notably, though, was the bald, orange-skinned man Leon had followed down here. He stood in front of the wall like he was protecting it, and glared at Leon with a mixture of fear and anger. Leon couldnt sense anything special about the wall, so he assumed his target chose to guard it for personal reasons rather than anything practical.

With a deep sigh, Leon shut the door behind him and pulled his sword back into his soul realm. He made a bit of a show of it, too, which drew his targets fear and ire for a moment before the weapon disappeared.

Im not trying to hurt you, Leon calmly said, hoping his tone would convey the meaning of his words even though the other man couldnt understand them. He then pulled his helmet into his soul realm too, though he stopped there. He wasnt going to leave himself completely defenseless when confronting someone potentially hostile. Please, Im only trying to find out what happened here, and youre the first person Ive come across.

The other man regarded him coldly and didnt respond, though he made no hostile moves, either. Leon waited for him to respond, though, and only made another move when it became clear the other man wasnt going to take the unspoken offer.

Im hoping we can communicate somehow, Leon said as he mimed at his throat, then cupped his ear, smiled, and nodded vigorously. This will help us if youll let it, he continued while doing his best to portray the Rumble Stone as good and positive. However as soon as the Rumble Stone appeared in his hand, the other mans eyes narrowed and he shifted from a more neutral, if resolute, stance, into something decidedly more hostile. His ninth-tier aura spiked as his killing intent filled the room, and he finally spoke. Leon couldnt understand the short tirade the man shouted at him, but he could certainly understand the furious tone he used.

He knew that they were about to fight, but he made one last appeal, raising his hands soothingly and trying to say calmly, Im not here to hurt you, or anyone else

Before he could say anything more, the chamber shook as the mans aura filled it, and he charged at Leon.

Lightning and disappointment flooded Leons body in equal measure.

Fine, he thought. The hard way it will have to be