Book 3, 37
In another plane. Berserker Ward, standing in a desolate desert, received the news as well. He scrunched up the piece of paper, ripping it to shreds with his large hands. “Bah! You can order me around when you have half of Lord Gaton’s power, brat!”
Asiris and Cyrden took care of a plane’s defence together. Their reactions to Richard’s message were polar opposites.
“We have to go back,” Asiris said slowly, quickly flipping through the Book of Darkness in his hands, “Lord Gaton once saved my life.”
“If you really care for Lord Gaton, you should stand guard here instead of going to pay respects to a kid whose hair isn’t even grown in!” Cyrden mocked. Two daggers were flashing in his hands, swimming between his fingers like fish. A sharp killing intent covered Asiris’ weak spots.
“You want to betray Lord Gaton?” The Dark Priest’s voice grew freezing cold.
“Of course not! I’ll never betray Lord Gaton, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be loyal to his children!” Cyrden screamed.
Asiris remained silent for a moment before saying, “If that’s the case, I’ll go back myself.”
“You’re crazy!” Cyrden was enraged, “What point is there in going back? To show loyalty to that little thing? What happens to this plane if you leave? Do you want me to take care of the demigod avatar from the other side alone? That fellow’s nearly the same as a legendary being from Norland. You want Lord Gaton to come back here to see us beaten back until a single base remains? Who knows, even our advance base might be conquered!”
“It’s only to take a look, I’ll be back very soon if there’s nothing going on. You just have to... hold on a bit.”
“Damn it! The speed in this plane is five times that of Norland! How should I hold on if you’re even slightly delayed? Take a good look down below, those are soldiers we trained with much difficulty. They’re lives as well, tens of thousands of them!”
Asiris took a deep breath, “It’s not like we don’t know the situation on the island. You’re just making excuses, I need to go back this time. If you feel like you cannot handle it alone, then... retreat.”
“Alright then!” Cyrden said with a sneer, “I’ll retreat! Let’s just run away and give everything we worked half a year for back to the enemy!”
Asiris didn’t respond, merely opening the Book of Darkness, A portal formed in front of him and he stepped in, not paying attention to Cyrden’s curses at all.
Last of all was the plane that originally belonged to the Schumpeters. Dragon Mage Lina was resting in a hastily erected camp, the untidy tents littered with injured soldiers. Painful groans rang out everywhere, the stench of blood all over the place.
When the attendant delivered Richard’s news, Lina was in the midst of picking at rotting flesh in her thigh with a silver knife. An arrow with a blue glow was stuck in the muscle.
One glance at the letter and she suddenly shouted out, “Ha! That guy is back?”
However, the agitated movements caused the knife to pluck out the arrow in one shot, causing her to grimace in pain. Looking at the flesh that was pulled out, the Dragon Mage gritted her teeth in hatred. She quickly called for a cleric, putting her injured thigh in front of him.
The cleric was very old, his wrinkly face filled with the vicissitudes of time, but he was only level 8. He had no hope of ever surpassing level 10 in his life. The man’s throat rolled violently at the sight of the plump, slender, pale thigh in front of him, his body bowing slightly to cover up certain changes down below. Not even his spacious robes could hide the difference.
“Healing spell! Hurry!” Lina shouted.
Only then did the man’s dull gaze return to normal. He promptly shut his eyes, starting to chant a spell. And yet, a spell which should have been easy was failed twice in a row, wasting a lot of mana. The old man suddenly felt the breeze in his face growing colder, laced with the killing intent of the Dragon Mage. He suddenly broke out in cold sweat, finally able to concentrate and complete the spell.
The spell’s radiance covered the thigh, a light green mist rising from the wound as it recovered colour. However, it evidently wasn’t enough. The old cleric was about to prepare a second healing spell, but Lina interrupted him, “Save your power to heal the seriously wounded.”
“But... Lady Lina, your wound still needs at least two more spells...”
“Just go when I tell you to!” she replied angrily.
Once the old man grew flustered and escaped, the Dragon Mage heaved a sigh of relief. She took out a flask of healing medicine, pouring it on the wound on her thigh. Once the milky white liquid touched the injury, it immediately started to froth over while emitting a pungent smell. Lina knew the poisons that had infected her were being removed, but the entire process was so painful that she turned a little pale.
Regardless of whether healing medicine was formed from a spell or through alchemy, it was always inferior to the spells of a cleric. It would often cause pain as well, the agony scaling with the effectiveness.
However, even if one wasn’t still in the process of forming a foothold on a new plane, if expansion was smooth, an expedition could recruit few clerics. That incompetent lecher was one of the best Lina currently had. The few healing spells he could cast needed to be allocated to those soldiers who were seriously injured. If not for the fact that the medicine alone couldn’t have contained her wound, she wouldn’t even have asked for the one.
After treating the wound on her thigh, Lina stood up and looked dejectedly at a distant city. A large number of enemies were entrenched there, defending the place with three magic towers. It caused her to be somewhat worried as well.