Dark Magus Returns

Chapter 1749  A Reason To Fight (Part 2)

“The warriors are our ultimate enemy, and it is only a matter of time before they strike,” Idore’s projected voice boomed, filling the metallic sphere with a heavy, ominous weight. “The Noble Guild will continue to grow stronger, and we will continue to harvest and gain new strength from these other worlds to prepare for the inevitable clash.”

The video continued to play, shifting its focus. A large portion of the subsequent footage was heavy-handed pandering, showing beautifully rendered illusions of how much good the Guild was destined to do for the citizens. It painstakingly explained how horrific the situation would be if these savage Pagna warriors ever managed to find a permanent bridge to their world, depicting cities in ruins and mages in chains.

Idore’s face reappeared, his expression grim and resolute. “There are only two things that can possibly happen to ensure our survival. Either we wait to be slaughtered, or we bring the fight directly to them. If we discover a permanent, stable way to enter their world en masse, we must do absolutely everything we can to get rid of them before they can organize. A preemptive strike.”

The projection zoomed out, showing a glowing schematic of the very ground Raze was standing on.

“Which is exactly why we are building this fortress. The place known as Noble Land,” Idore explained, his voice swelling with pride. “It will work as an impenetrable base of defense, as well as a mobile base of attack. It is an area specifically designed so that if an enemy force manages to breach the inside, they will be systematically isolated, eliminated, and never be able to leave until they have perished.”

The schematic shifted, revealing the true, terrifying scope of Idore’s ambition. “The whole of Noble Land is designed to be able to be lifted from the earth. It is engineered to sustain itself and exist in any world, under any atmosphere, or in any terrain.”

The 3D image displaying in the center of the room showed remarkable, almost unbelievable things. The massive piece of land, complete with the palace and its surrounding structures, was able to be used almost like a colossal spaceship, hovering and moving through the sky with an eerie grace. The cross-section revealed deep, complex tunnels underneath the surface. The entire underside of the floating world was being converted into a massive, heavily shielded storage space designed specifically to hoard and utilize an astronomical amount of beast crystals to fuel its flight and weaponry.

Raze stared at the floating fortress hologram, his eyes wide.

‘I’m finally starting to understand,’ Raze thought, a cold realization washing over him. ‘I originally thought this whole place was just heavily guarded, and had been set up in these strange, convoluted ways simply to defend against a targeted attack by myself. But this spatial labyrinth, these high-tier mages, this floating city… it was never intended to actually be used against me. It was built to be used against a full-scale invasion of Pagna warriors.’

He let out a dry, humorless breath.

‘It really makes me wonder if Idore ever actually thought that I would get this far. Maybe he genuinely believed that one of the other Grand Magus would easily eliminate me before I became a real threat. After all, they all seemed to blindly believe in this grand story of planetary defense that Idore told them as well. I was just a minor nuisance in his cosmic war.’

What this revelation did make Raze realize, however, was a glaring historical anomaly: Idore knew far too much about Pagna. It was the exact same anomaly for the original founder of the Dark Faction, who was originally from Alterian as well. Did Idore learn about Pagna from him? Did they share ancient texts, or was there another hidden connection between the two worlds that predated the recent dimensional rifts?

Idore’s fabricated story for the masses was clearly explained in the video, but his actual, personal involvement in all of it remained incredibly murky and washed out.

‘I don’t need to see any more of this propaganda,’ Raze thought, turning his eyes away from the floating fortress. ‘I highly doubt he would ever actually explain to these low-level recruits why he personally is going after the Pagna warriors, or what he truly stands to gain from conquering their world.’

Maybe that was a question that Raze would just have to ask Idore himself. That was, of course, if he didn’t just kill him first.

The orientation video didn’t have much longer to play, and Raze was actually somewhat happy he had forced himself to wait patiently until it completely ended. Because the moment the projection faded to black and Idore’s voice cut out, the heavy metallic panels on the screens started to mechanically shift and slide apart. There wasn’t just one entrance in and one exit out, after all. A hidden doorway had just revealed itself.

‘I guess since this is a secure checkpoint where new mages joining the inner guild have to go, the spatial magic is tied to the presentation. They literally can’t proceed to the next step of the facility until they have watched the video to the very end,’ Raze thought, appreciating the paranoid security design.

Rather than heading back out the way he came and risking the spatial loop again, he decided to confidently head through the newly opened door in front of him. There was always a lingering chance it would just maliciously teleport him back to a random hallway, but even then, he would just have to try and figure out the spatial pattern to progress anyway. It was worth the risk.

He stepped over the threshold.

When he went into the next room, he braced himself for the dizzying sensation of teleportation. However, he didn’t end up going through a portal to a different area. Leaving the heavy door propped open behind him, Raze looked back over his shoulder, and he could still perfectly see the metallic, spherical room he was in just moments ago. The physical space was connected normally.

‘Is this a temporary error in the spatial spell?’ Raze thought, his heart rate picking up as he started to get excited. ‘Or is it because this specific door only opens up after the video is fully done, meaning this pathway is designated as ‘safe’ and isn’t actually linked to the randomized labyrinth spell as a whole?’

He looked down the new, stable corridor.

‘If that’s the case, then all the doors from here onwards will be physically connected to their rightful, logical places. The illusion is broken. There is a straight way to finally break out of this maze!’

When Raze went through the adjacent areas, he could clearly see he had entered a massive testing and processing facility. It was filled with clinical, advanced equipment—things that were standing in a lot of the high-end research labs scattered around Alterian, even during the time he was originally there.

There were specialized runic devices that tested raw mana output, crystalline scales that measured elemental affinity levels, among other esoteric magical properties. Most likely, this area was used to grade the new recruits and determine exactly where one should be stationed within the defensive walls of the Noble Guild.

As Raze continued cautiously through the quiet labs, his eyes scanning for ambushes or useful items, he finally came across something that stopped him dead in his tracks.

It was a heavy, reinforced door, completely sealed off with a brightly glowing, active enchanted circle carved directly into the metal frame. The complex magical lock was pulsing with dangerous energy, strictly designed to not allow just anyone to open it.

‘This is the first active, stationary magic circle I’ve seen in person for a while, other than the defensive ones used in the throne room when I first got here,’ Raze noted, stepping closer to examine the intricate rune work. ‘Why is there one placed specifically on this door in the middle of a testing lab? It’s not something anyone without a master’s understanding of arrays could easily break, either.’

What Raze realized immediately was that whatever was hiding behind that heavily warded door had to be rather important. And even though he was on a desperate time crunch, with his allies fighting for their lives outside, there was a very good chance that whatever required this level of security might just be something he could use to turn the tide of the entire battle.

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