Soon after the alarm, Fel heard a tinkling in his mind, somewhat resembling a ringtone.
"Someone's trying to contact you, the incoming wavelengths match the white-haired referee. Want me to accept them?"
"As long as they aren't harmful, go ahead Aerl." Though Fel found this method of communication interesting and rather nostalgic, he didn't have the time to worry about such things for now.
A soft, elegant voice echoed in his mind, "Bzzt–Hello, hello? Is this Fel Evenstar?"
"Yes, you've got the right person."
"Ah, how rude of me. I'm Wyvern, the referee from before and 2nd Lieutenant of Seven Element Valley's Combat division. Nice to meet you."
"Same to you. Are you calling about the Death Wave?"
"That's right. There's an issue about your situation. You haven't been formally integrated into a Combat division, and you've also just undergone a duel and still need to recover. Therefore, I'll excuse you from duty."
"Thank you very much."
"I'll send you a map to your nearest shelter. I believe Siyla must be by you. She's excused too. Make sure you get there safely, the barrier isn't in its best state right now."
A stream of information entered Fel's mind, forming a detailed map, after which Wyvern cut the line, leaving Fel to his own devices.
Siyla looked at Fel, "What was that?"
"The referee contacted me, we're excused from duty and gotta get to the nearest shelter."
"You know where to go?"
"Yes, you're ready to go?"
Walking to the door, she turned her head to Fel, "You're the one with the spatial ring."
Awkwardly rubbing his head, Fel walked over, taking out segments of plate armour, "He said we might encounter dangers on the way. May as well be prepared."
Fel paused for a moment.
"Ah right, how do I put this on?"
Sighing, Siyla grabbed the segments from him and strapped them on, "Keep your arms up, god you're useless."
Though they finished up quickly, compared to power armour, it took far too long to don plate armour. Even worse, without his power armour's inertia dampeners, his arms wouldn't be able to withstand the force behind his firearms. It would tear them from their sockets.
---
Fel and Siyla walked past the luxurious pagodas, thick bolts of lightning descending all around them. According to the map, the entrance to the nearest shelter was the 'inner shelter' next to the lightning pool. However, as Fel's pagoda was at the inner zone's southern fringes, it was quite distant from their current location.
Overhead, the barrier trembled, a few more cracks visible on its surface. However, while tendrils of death energy made their way through, bursts of lightning swiftly dispatched them. Every so often, a flash of light soared across the sky, clashing overhead, erupting into splendorous explosions. The force they let out definitely wasn't a good sign for the barrier.
Fel could only imagine what the situation was like at the gate.
"If you didn't know better, you'd think it was the Armageddon. Look that crack looks large enough for someone to fit through."
"I swear, if you jinx us..."
"No worries, I had great luck in the military. How else could I be promoted to an EPA pilot and team captain in 2 short years?"
Siyla raised an eyebrow, "What are you talking about? Well, anyway, hope your luck holds up. How much longer have we to go?"
"About 15 minutes. You sure you don't want to pick up the pace?"
"With your jinxing, that's a good idea."
"Please, shut up."
---
A thin figure crept through the nooks and crannies of the Valley's wall. It hoisted itself onto a stable rock formation and turned to his left. In the distance, a fierce battle raged, with a horde of skeletal creatures besieging the grand walls of the Academy.
Vast magic circles glowed on its surface, nullifying incoming spells and deathly energy as they collided. The Mages on top didn't use spells, rather, they manned small, cannon-like objects on the walls and heavy crossbows, raining hell upon their foes.
However, while a hail of projectiles and energy blasts tore apart the enemy ranks, the endless tide of undead never let up and on both sides, robed Mages hung back, observing the scene. The situation didn't seem like it would change anytime soon.
Looking away from the battlefield, the figure dusted himself off and continued onward. It wore a long, flowing robe, as black as a pool of ink and wholly unsuitable for rock climbing.
The figure reached up for another handhold, only for the rock to crumble under its grip, almost causing it to fall all the way back down.
"Fuck, why did the only affordable enchanted clothing have to be this damn robe. Why do Mages have to wear robes anyway? They're so unpractical, I'd much rather wear a tunic."
Clambering onto another protruding rock, the figure sat down, pulling his hood back. It revealed a sharp, handsome face, with a set of cloudy grey eyes and spiky platinum hair, blemished only by his paper white skin that made him look gaunt, almost threatening.
He stretched out, preparing for the next leg of the journey, "Good to be out though, the 2nd layer is just so stifling and stagnant. What else would you expect from an undead empire though?"
Patting himself down, he went back to climbing up the mountainous cliff. Even if undead didn't get tired, every move of theirs used up death energy. Only high-ranking undead could move away from sources of death energy and even then they have to ration their supply.
Not long after, a gloved hand appeared on top of the cliff, and following that, a long-robed figure. He looked back down the cliff, spotting a small crack in the air by its base. Looking at it again made the robed figure recall how he got through the barrier. While his undead figure was truly stick-like, the same couldn't be said about his robe.
Clenching his fist, he looked away, instead turning to look down into the valley. At the basin was a large yellow plain, dotted with large formations of dark, magnetic rock. In its centre was a small town with a great lightning pool in the middle. A multi-storied building fully encircled the pool while around 20 pagodas, all very distant from each other, separated by thin forest and gardens, littered the surrounding area.
Past that was a dense residential area, crammed full of pagoda-inspired buildings with long lightning rods reaching out from their roofs. Separating the two districts was a low wall, so low that one could even vault it was enough dedication. Yet the dense runes carved on it emitted a frightening aura. This was the basic town template followed by every Academic town in the valley, only the style of building varied.
"It's like a bloody fortress within a fortress." He touched a badge by his heart, "Good thing I brought this ward with me."
Examining the town, he found that most of the apprentices and Mages had already evacuated, with only a few stragglers left behind, rushing to their closest shelter.
"Cautious bunch." He looked up towards the lights flashing in the sky, "But I guess that a stray spell from them would heavily injure even a Level 1 Mage."
"Yet, despite the risks, this is the only way for me to gain merit. Well, as long as I don't do anything too flashy, I'll remain undetected."
He crawled to the edge of the valley and climbed down, reaching the base and making his way to the southern part of the energy pool. At this point, Fel and Siyla had only just set forth from their home.
- - -
"How much longer?"
"Just 10 more minutes to go."
They were walking through a more foresty section of the inner zone. This area was often used to farm high-quality lightning-attributed wood and was often tended to, so few leaves lay on the ground. The trees' branches were laden with dense leaves, flat and wide, so as to catch as much lightning energy as possible, yet casting deep shadows below.
"Fel, incoming projectile!"
Without hesitation, Fel leapt to the side, tackling Siyla to the ground and covering her body, just in case it was explosive.
Not a moment later, a flash of deathly energy flew past, missing the duo and striking a tree instead. Tiny runes crept up its trunk and spread along its branches. When the tiny runes completely covered the tree, it withered up and collapsed into a pile of ash in the blink of an eye.
Fel instantly took out his trusty shield, projecting out a large shield composed of divine energy, after which he equipped the Roland in his right hand. Although he suffered recoil every time he used it, it was his lowest tiered divine-attributed weapon.
Seeing that the duo had turtled behind their shield, a robed figure strode out into the open.
"Ancient artifacts, that's rare. You only ever find glorified fireworks in these barbaric lands."
"Who are you?"
The robed figure bowed and took off his hood, revealing a handsome, pale face and a set of cloudy grey eyes, "Archaios Neolaia, call me Arc for short. I hail from the 2nd underground layer."
"Nice to meet you, what business do you have here?"
"Well, I just happen to need a few Mage heads of the 1st underground layer. Would you mind lending yours?"
Arc extended his arm and splayed out his palm, from which a stream of tiny black runes erupted. They swirled around in the air, forming the hazy shape of a scythe. He then injected the structure with death energy, filling it out.
Fel charged his blade with vast quantities of divine energy, swinging it out, launching a crescent of golden energy.
With his scythe now complete, Arc swung it out in return, clashing head-on with the golden crescent, causing a massive explosion of golden and black light. Despite divine energy being the counter to death energy, the two forces were equal in power. The small explosion only forced Arc to take a few steps back.
The clearing dust revealed Arc's disappointed face, "I thought I'd have a little fun in this barbaric land. Yet even with an ancient artifact, a barbarian remains a barbarian."
"How can you form runes out of energy? I was told it was impossible."
Arc glanced at his scythe, "Oh, that. I suppose you barbarians wouldn't know of it. I'm guessing you can't even overcome the will traces, pfft, those are only a problem if you're–ah, right, I'm not supposed to talk about this."
He raised his scythe, "Well, it's not like you'll need it where you're going."
Without warning, Siyla launched a volley of swirling needles and silver arrows, followed up by two crescents of golden energy. They immediately turned tail and dashed towards the shelter. They were no match for the death Mage.
Arc formed a complicated black seal above his palm and launched it at the hail of metallic projectiles while he faced the crescents head-on with his scythe. However, a few needles still made their way past the seal and continued their path towards Arc, only to bounce off his robe.
"I guess this robe has its uses. After all, death energy is almost useless in defence."
Arc gazed through the hazy dust cloud, "Whaddaya know, death energy is also useless for mobility." Tiny black runes flew up from under his feet, twisting into a tornado around him, "Well, that only applies to low-ranked trash."
The runic tornado tightened around Arc who's body swiftly disappeared in the darkness. The tornado continued to tighten, until it collapsed, without even a trace of Arc in sight. Soon, even the runes vanished into the air.
---
"Fel, how much longer?"
"5 minutes, we're almost there."
Without even Aerl's warning, a shadow solidified behind Fel, a deathly scythe cleaving down unto him.