As soon as the item was destroyed, I snapped back into reality. I immediately stopped my attack and tried to spit the destroyed totem out. Yet the smaller pieces of the object easily got stuck in between my teeth like I was eating sand.
My father looked relieved as he realised that I was finally free from the object.
I turned to the dwarf who was still lying against the wall.
Wanting to see if he was ding okay, I moved towards him. But he stopped me before I managed to come close. He pointed at where there was still some of my own blood on my hand.
"Wipe that of. Demon blood can cause some nasty infections when it comes close to open wounds."
Without something good to wipe my blood of on, I just licked it off.
"how bad are your wounds?"
The dwarf laughed but was soon halted by a stinging pain.
"Well, I can't move my ancle and I am pretty sure that I broke a rib, but for the most part, it could have been much worse. Oh, and I guess I am still bleeding from my arm. it is funny how you stop feeling these things when you have a worse wound somewhere else."
"Sorry. If could have held out a little longer, it wouldn't have been so bad."
"Nah, you couldn't have done much against it. I don't get why they are still making those things."
My heart dropped as I realised what could possibly be the reason for the creation of these objects.
"They are expecting a large-scale attack."
"What do you mean?" my father asked while he further crushed the remains of the totem.
"When there is only one demon the gains wouldn't outweigh the destruction, it would cause. In that case it would be much more sufficient to lure it out and then overpower it." I explained. "But in a scenario where there is no way to limit the damages. For example, a large group of demons invading. They could just throw some of these in the horde and they would fight each other and then they can easily kill the few that remain standing."
Suddenly the dwarf spoke in his repressed weak voice due to his broken rib.
"If they are really expecting an attack like that, why waste time with the security? A few humming stones can't keep a large group of demons out. "
"They are avoiding panic and are trying to keep the few scouts out, or… in."
I rubbed my neck where there was still a painful spot from the divine thread. Tough it was not bleeding it hurt a lot more than an actual open wound.
Noticing that the dwarf was still bleeding from his arm, I started to look for the bandages within the large pile for rubble. I managed to find it and cut it up to waste as little as possible.
My father took the bandages over from me and started to help the dwarf.
"Why didn't I use magic? I could have killed both of you so easily."
"My best guess is that you simply couldn't because you weren't entirely there. And you're right. We could have been in deep shit if you actually attacked us with magic."
I sat down next to them. my tail was nervously swinging from side to side. Tough the damage was limited due to my inability to use magic in that state, I found it a terrifying thought that I could be influenced in such a way this easily.
"What now? That man would probably come back later to see if you are still alive. And finding you two and this place in a state like this would be prove enough that I am here."
"I don't know. Your father is in a better state than me so maybe if he shows up in Atlantis, that asshole wouldn't bother to check."
"Then wouldn't it be suspicious that the totem is destroyed?"
The dwarf shrugged, what caused the wound on his arm to open up again. and the freshly applied bandages slowly started to turn red "We will see. But right now, I just need to sit down a little."
I nodded and stood up. "I… need to be alone for a little while."
As soon as I started to walk away my father caught my hand. "Are sure that you are fine?"
"My mind is still a little fizzy and the low amount of holy energy that is hanging around is annoying. But for the most part I am fine."
I managed to free myself and flew away.
My mind right now was clear, and the holy energy was bearable. I just needed a believable excuse to get away.
The man that was with the search party had made a move to both expose me and kill those who he believed were traitors. Of course, he couldn't have known the situation, but I still found his sin unforgivable. And thus, he had to be punished.
But I did not want to send Noah or Beatrice, I wanted to do this on my own. With Moenen as a backup, I felt comfortable enough to come close to Atlantis.
The man was easy to find as his trail was still fresh. And cloaked in illusions I followed him from above. I tried to glide as much as possible as to not make any sounds that could possibly alert him.
Now when I truly got close to Atlantis, I was scared that something would drain my magic and leave me defenceless. But this was of course not the case. The material was way to expensive and the area of effect was way to small.
As for the detection crystals, they wouldn't glow when I stayed high enough.
The only real problems that I would face were the sounds. I was planning on luring him back to the ruins with illusions. But for that to be believable there had to be sounds.
I already had an idea for how I could do that. And if it did not work out, I could just pick him up and fly away before anyone noticed me.