Supreme Magus

Chapter 3994: Heat Haze (Part 1)

"The attackers came from over that dune, and the riders Warped from the merfolk village in that direction. Even if we assume the Yellows Wind tribe relocated after the raid began, their destination can’t be too far." Solus said.

"A caravan with children and elderly people moves slowly, and it’s unlikely they have more than one Home Stone. That kind of artifact is not only rare, but it also requires a mage skilled in dimensional magic to activate it. I doubt that an outlaw tribe can nurture many mages."

Lith reverted to Dragon size, and the others jumped on his back. It took him a few minutes to search the region and locate the closest oasis to the spot of the ambush.

"Damn, these guys are thorough." The Voidfeather Dragon sniffed the ground, the orchard, and the access to the mines like a hunting dog. "They must have cleaned everything up with darkness magic. There is no lingering scent here."

"Do you also train your nose with Protector?" Nalrond asked.

’When did Lith find the time to do that and build a family?’ He inwardly added.

"Not as much as I like, but that’s not the point." Lith replied. "There is no smell of animals, magical beasts, birds, nothing. They have erased every trace of their presence before leaving. It’s no wonder that Grandma’s Feathers never notice the passage of an outlaw tribe. Solus?"

"One moment." The tower was far away, but between her link with it and the power coming out of the mana geyser, Solus managed to boost the Eyes’ detection range. "There’s a faint signal north, north-west from here."

"Good." Lith rose back in the sky before bolting forward. "Raiders or hostages?"

"Neither." Solus replied. "It’s the energy signature of the Warp Steps they used to escape."

"You can sense a trace that faint after so many hours?" Friya was flabbergasted. "I tried reopening the dimensional passage after treating the people of the Black Stork tribe, but those Yellow Wind bastards relaxed the space."

"Relaxing the space means nothing to the Eyes of Menadion unless you also disperse the dimensional energies." Solus shrugged.

"How do you do that?" Friya asked.

"I don’t know, and honestly, I hope it’s impossible." Solus replied. "It would make tracking people much harder."

Once they reached the exit point of the Warp Steps, the Eyes detected the energy signature of the Home Stone, but that was it.

"This is weird." Lith said while he followed the energy trail left by the artifact. "How come the Eyes picked up only the Home Stone’s signal? Raiders and caravan can’t have just disappeared into thin air."

"Consider ourselves lucky." Solus replied. "The mage of the Yellow Wind must have put the Home Stone in a saddlebag instead of storing it inside a dimensional item, or we wouldn’t have any trace to follow. For some reason- What is that?"

Solus pointed at a faraway point to her right, yet no matter how hard the others looked through their binoculars, there was nothing noteworthy.

"It’s just an empty oasis, Solus." Lith said after getting close enough to have a perfect sight of the area with his Tiamat eyes.

"That’s not empty at all." She replied. "Can’t you see them?"

"See what?" Lith didn’t change his direction.

He pretended to have fallen for whatever trick the Eyes had uncovered and kept flying until the oasis almost disappeared onto the horizon.

"It’s easier if you see it with your own eyes." Solus split the Eyes into Monocles, giving one to Lith and the other to Friya.

The empty oasis was actually filled with dozens of tents and hundreds of people.

A complex and large network of arrays surrounded the village, conjuring a dome of distorted light. The dome projected several holograms across its surface, making everything and everyone inside nigh-invisible from the outside.

Lith handed the Monocle to Nalrond, and the oasis appeared empty again, even to his Tiamat eyes.

"That’s incredible." Lith said. "Without the Eyes of Menadion, I would dismiss the slight haze corresponding to the inhabitants of the village, thinking it’s just a product of the Desert’s heat.

Lith saw a few fruits apparently floating in the air on their own and disappearing one invisible bite at a time.

"That’s not all." Solus said. "The holograms are only half of the arrays. The other half is a powerful cloaking system that only lets the world energy from the mana geyser through. I bet that even if we flew right above the oasis, Life Vision wouldn’t detect anything."

"That must be how the Yellow Wind tribe has escaped detection by Grandma’s Nest so far." Lith nodded. "The Blood Desert is big, and Phoenixes on patrol don’t have the time to land in every single spot and perform a ground search.

"They just fly over an area and look for anything amiss with their keen eyesight. All the members of the Yellow Wind tribe have to do to avoid getting caught is keep sentinels on lookout for Phoenixes and stand still until they leave."

"That array is so good that even with the people moving around, I wouldn’t suspect a thing if I didn’t know what to look for."

"Those guys are smart." Friya nodded and handed the Monocle of Menadion back to her friend. "Smarter than the Nest and even more than you give them credit for, Solus. Take another look. Two sets of arrays are currently active, but they belie a third one."

"You are right." Solus studied the new readings as they popped up and used a partial mind fusion to share her senses with Lith. "That must be the defensive system Grandma warned us about."

"It’s indeed powerful enough to keep up to two Divine Beasts at bay if they stay outside or seriously injure one if they enter the village." Lith said.

The cloaking and distorted light magical formations had no defensive value in the eventuality that an enemy entered the village for any reason or somehow exposed the presence of the Yellow Wind tribe.

If that happened, the tribal leader would deactivate the first two sets of arrays and redirect the world energy into a powerful barrier and several offensive arrays.

It was a turtle shell that a creature as powerful as a Phoenix was bound to crack, yet it would take them long enough for the people of the Yellow Winds to store their things inside dimensional amulets and escape via the Home Stone.

"The fastest way to deal with those magical formations would be using the Disarray spell after I moved right below their focal points with my bloodline ability." Nalrond said. "The problem is that the resulting explosion would kill the hostages as well."

"And the children." Friya pointed out. "And anyone in the tribe who disapproves of the methods of their leader but doesn’t leave simply because they have nowhere to go. I’m not letting innocents pay for the crimes of the guilty."

’If any of the adults wanted to rebel, they just needed to reach one of Grandma’s Feathers and spill the beans.’ Lith furrowed his brow but said nothing. ’They would be pardoned and offered a good life.’

’Reach how?’ Solus countered soberly. ’Not everyone can fly and Warp around like we do. Imagine walking under the Desert’s sun for days with a family in tow and no magical power."