We finally arrived at the last city before heading to the capital, as soon as we arrived we realized that there was a barrier around the city thanks to Layla.
After making Rakan see this barrier we find out that it is an alarming barrier, it will not stop people from going through it, this barrier will just warn the person who activated this barrier about people with a large amount of Mana coming in.
When we look we also see that there are many guards on the walls and gates of the city, this confirmed that they are waiting for our attack.
As soon as the sky darkened I go alone to one of the guards patrolling the gates while inside the shadows, then I step into the shadow of this guard who was switching shifts with another guard, I waited a while as this guard passed the barrier and entered the city to go to the walls.
Once we're in town, I move from shadow to shadow to an empty shop, then open the Dungeon gate for Vanessa, Elsaris, Layla, Nix, and Ivan to come out.
Then I closed the Dungeon gate, so I start using earth element magic to open a hole in the ground, I don't choose this store for nothing, this store is on top of one of the sewer tunnels.
As she was making the hole deeper and deeper, Layla starts looking out the window with a serious expression.
"There is a lot of Mana in this place." (Layla)
"Do you think they're activating the city's magic circle?" (I)
"I don't feel anything in the streets, but it seems that mana is concentrating in this city, it can be almost imperceptible, I just noticed because we just entered the city and here it has more than twice the amount of mana than outside." (Layla)
"Just as we expected, they are up to something, have they noticed our presence?" (Ivan)
"Rakan said that if I hide in someone's shadow the barrier won't notice my presence, so it must be okay." (I)
"This concentration of Mana is not something that can be done overnight, it must have taken days to do it." (Layla)
"So this must be one of the traps they're planning to use against us." (I)
"To do something on this scale without using the magic circle of the streets, so I can only imagine a place where they could do something like that and get the attention of the townspeople." (Elsaris)
"From what little I could see, the townspeople are living normally, so I don't think anyone has noticed yet." (I)
"How long will it take to make the hole?" (Vanessa)
"It's going to take thirty minutes to dig the hole as I'm trying not to attract attention, if I try to do it fast they might notice the earth tremor." (I)
After tens of minutes, the hole is made, we all enter and follow the path straight to the secret room in the center of the city in the underground, on the way we find some soldiers that we had to kill before arriving.
When we arrived at the door we saw dozens of soldiers at the entrance, besides said Elsaris points out that he saw movement in the sewage water, I had already heard about the creature he found in the previous city.
We already imagined that this could happen, I use my sense and detection skills, then I discover that there is a lot of Mana concentrated in the door, besides that I could feel 6 signs of life inside the room, they were all in the center where I heard that the center magic circle.
This was one of the worst situations I could think of, but I already had a plan for it, I warn the others to get ready when everyone nods their head showing that they are ready I activate the barrier magic circle inside the magic crystal to stay just us and the dozen guards in front of the door, they didn't even notice, so Ivan uses his magic to make bones grow out of the ground holding all the soldiers in place.
I go to them applying poison, after they die we keep the bodies without letting a single drop of blood fall, we did this so the enemy wouldn't notice, Elsaris comes out of the water nodding her head to show that she killed the enemy too, I deliver a potion of liquid soap for her.
We all stayed silent in front of the door, we couldn't use Vanessa's strength now as we don't know what might happen next.
One thing Rakan told us earlier today was that we could destroy the crystal in the center of the magic circle, it could temporarily stop the magic, that seemed like the best way to do it now.
I tell Layla to use her most powerful light magic, not on the door which seems to have a lot of magic waiting for the fool to touch it, so I tell Layla to aim at the wall next to the door, I want Layla to make a hole in the wall at the same time your attack targets the magic crystal.
"< Condensed Ray of Light > ×4" (Layla)
Layla forms a square with her four hands, so 4 rays of light collide in the center of her hands before going towards the wall, it was a thin ray of light, but when it hit the wall it made a big hole as it continued, I and the others enter through the hole heading towards the magic circle, I attack as soon as I appear, but I notice that there was a barrier around the control magic circle that stopped Layla's attack and defended the 6 people inside the magic circle.
When I looked at the six people I noticed everyone laughing thinking they were protected, at that moment Vanessa tries to cancel the magic but fails to do so, at least Layla's light attack continued until she started to crack the barrier.
At that moment I do a lunge attack as I see a woman among the six enemies throw a black crystal at the crystal in the center that absorbs the black crystal and starts to change color.
When I hit the barrier she went into pieces as I used my claws to kill two people, while three daggers kill three more, and a spear of light is hurled at the woman who threw the black crystal now.
The woman puts her hands forward pulling one of the corpses before it falls and using it as a shield, then she jumps back while laughing.
"Hahahahaha... you arrived too late... the magic circle has already been activated... the summoning magic I prepared especially for you is already happening while we are here... hahahahahaha."
I was about to attack her when suddenly the magic crystal turns black competent and a wave of magic energy spreads around, everything around us starts to shake as the woman in front of us continues to speak with a smile of triumph as she tries to run towards of a door.
"Because of you we will lose this city too, but at least we will bring our comrades who have been waiting 50 years here."
"< Streams of Light >" (Vanessa)
"Ahhhh!"
I concentrate to cast a spell, but before I do anything, streams of light appear and trap the woman.
I try to get closer to the magic circle but I can't, I tried to attack but there seems to be a barrier preventing my attacks.
"We can't do anything else here, the ritual magic is already working, this magic circle has a lot of magic power flowing through it which creates a natural mana barrier." (Vanessa)
"So we can't stop the summoning?" (I)
"You may have captured me, but now you're dead, you just don't know it yet."
"Along with the magic circle activation a barrier was placed around the entire city, you cannot escape."
"Do you think some Kimera soldiers and you are going to scare us?" (Ivan)
"Hahahahahaha!"
"I must say that I didn't expect them to enter the city unnoticed, because of that I had to use our backup plan, but that's ok, we still have one last city for the Summoning Dragon of Destruction."
She seems very calm and sure of herself in this situation, which worries me.
"Kill her, after that bring Rakan here." (I)
"Your effort is useless, at this moment every person in this city is being consumed by the magic circle, soon more than 5000 Demons and Vampires will be here being summoned from the dark continent, hahahahahaha..."
"..." (I)
"..." (all)
In my fury, I went up to the woman and bit her neck draining her of all the blood that was in her body before throwing her body to the ground and stepping on her head.
Ding!
Everyone was looking at me not knowing what to do, what this woman just said scared everyone, but Nix was still fulfilling my request and had opened the Dungeon gate to go get Rakan.
After a few seconds Rakan appears going straight to the magic circle, he looks worried, he stayed a few seconds looking at the magic circle while his face got paler and his eyes are filled with terror, at the end he got down on his knees saying what had discovered.
"They didn't use the sewer magic circle, they concentrated magic power into this crystal for quick activation of magic circles on city streets, that must have taken days." (Rakan)
"Also there is one more magic circle added to the central magic circle, this one belongs to a summoning spell for a target marked by the mage who activated the spell." (Rakan)
"So you're not summoning the Dragon?" (I)
"No, but this city is already destroyed, the magic circle has already finished collecting energy and is starting the process of locating the summon targets, that means the people of the city have already... died!" (Rakan)