We took our seats at a table in the back of the tavern and a petite waitress came immediately to serve us. She took a look around the table before saying.
"Welcome to our tavern. What can I bring you?"
Velor looked towards me and Anise and said:
"What do you say we order some food as well? I'm quite hungry after the last few days."
We agreed and each ordered what we felt like eating. I personally wasn't that picky with the food and ordered some roasted meet of any kind they had. Once we placed our food orders, the waitress said:
"And what would you like to drink?"
I turned to ask Anise what she would want, but Velor said out loud before I could even say a single word: "Best Ale you guys have.". Seeing Anise nodding in resignation, I didn't say anything either and nodded to show my approval.
After the waitress was gone, Lysa elbowed her brother while saying: "Can you stop ordering for everyone? Maybe they wanted something else."
"Oh come on, who doesn't like ale?"
As the two were bickering like usual, Anise grabbed my hand under the table and looked at me with a worried look. I figured she might have noticed something was wrong when Ai mentioned the presence of another magic circle. I gave her a comforting look and we both joined Lysa and Velor's conversation.
Soon, the waitress came back carrying out food and drinks. We started eating and drinking which made me forget, at least for a while, about the magic circle problem and made me able to have some fun.
The joyous atmosphere continued for a couple of hours, until the sun already started setting and I decided to back to the inn. Since Anise said that she also wanted to go and practice, we said our goodbyes to the two siblings who seemed eager to continue drinking and started walking back.
Once we entered out room, Anise dragged me to the bed and asked as we sat down: "So, what has been bothering you?"
Sighing I replied: "There seems to be another magic circle gathering the circle of the dead, straight under the city. Since it was a lot smaller I didn't notice it before taking care of the other one."
She frowned at my words and asked: "But, there's no way the demons managed to construct a magic circle…". She stopped mid sentence and seemed to have realized something. After taking a moment to think about it she said: "It must be someone from our side. This circle must have been made by humans."
"Huh?" I blurted out.
[That is the conclusion I reached as well and is the most logical.]
"But why? It doesn't make any sense.."
"Think about it. That would also explain why all the wizards that specialize in souls didn't say anything about the demons collecting the souls of the dead.." Replied Anise in deep thought.
[They used the demon's magic circle as a cover and constructed a smaller one right under the city. It was the perfect cover. I wonder if they are just using the soul crystals as mana batteries.] said Ai as she seemed to continue Anise's words.
With Ai's and Anise's analysis, the situation was quickly becoming a lot clearer. I was honestly grateful for being surrounded by such smart people. Too bad Senna was not here anymore. Sighing, I said to Ai:
'If it's indeed the human's work, doesn't that make going down there and exploring a little easier?'
[Ask Anise. She might know something about the average level of those wizards.]
"Anise, do you have any idea about the level of those magicians? I want to go and destroy this circle as well."
Anise frowned and said: "There are two wizards that specialize in souls that came from Cloven Academy and they are level 53 and 62. This information might be a little outdated but the difference should not be higher than a level or two. As for the wizards that came from other places, I don't know exactly. The ones that might pose a problem are those from the Capital."
Their levels were a lot higher than I expected, prompting me to ask: "Why are their levels so high? Isn't your mother the headmistress? Her level was not that high."
"Yeah, mother is still level 38, but that's only because she was busy with the academy and didn't really focus on leveling up. There are other, much stronger wizards in the academy, it's just that the leading position is passed down through out family and not based on level or merits."
I nodded in understanding and said: "I still want to try and go check it out."
"Don't you think it's better if we just report this to the adventurer's guild? They can take care of all this."
"But we don't know who else is involved. If we tell all this to the wrong person the situation might get a lot worse and we'll lose the advantage of them not knowing that we found out about the magic circle."
Anise fell in deep thought before saying: "How about we both go together."
I shook my head and said: "That can't do. Your level is too low and your can only silent cast fire magic. If anyone spots us I might not be able to protect you. If I go by myself I'll be able to use light magic to sneak around."
"I'm only a few levels lower than you. I can manage."
I now realized I actually failed to mention the fact that I leveled up eleven times when Senna destroyed the magic circle. An awkward expression on my face, I said: "Actually, I'm now level 39."
"You're what?" Anise blurted out with an exaggerated expression. "How? Was it from when you destroyed the magic circle?"
I nodded and said: "Yeah. I gained world energy from all those that died when space fell apart in that area."
Anise laid down on her back and sighed in defeat: "I can't believe you surpassed me by that much in such a small period of time. You're even a level higher than mother. I don't know if I should praise you for being so amazing or curse you for leaving me so far behind."
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you. It just slipped my mind." I felt kind of bad now. We agreed that we're going to be traveling and leveling up together and now I felt like I betrayed her, even if I had no choice in that matter.
"It's fine. It's a little disheartening seeing you get further and further away from me. I had the feeling I was catching up when I learned to silent cast fire magic, but you just went and widened the distance again. Sigh.. You can go an check out the magic circle with ease. Those wizards have only mastered an element or two and will stand no chance pf catching you if you want to run even with a ten or twenty level advantage."
"Are you sure you're fine?" I was a little worried about her. The fact that I reached level 39 seemed to hit her a lot harder than I expected.
"I'll be by the time you come back. Go now and be careful. I'll start practicing again." She game me a small kiss, rose up from the bed and made her way towards the table.
Sighing, I teleported out of the room into a nearby alley. Checking and seeing that no one was around, I started burrowing into the ground and making my way towards the core of the circle while listening to Ai's directions.
It took me no more than twenty minutes until I reached the place Ai said all the souls were converging upon. Making a small hole in the earth in front, I peeked through and observed the situation inside.
There was a big underground chamber, sustained by thick pillars with a magic circle drawn on it's floor. There was a thin green mist all over the place and the soul crystals kept forming from that mist.
A couple of people, around sixty or so, were collecting those crystals before placing them in a box and carrying them up a flight of stairs. I made my way through the ground towards the flight of stairs and waited patiently. As one of the people carrying a box of crystals passed by the place I was hiding in, I used the same trick my clone used in the trials and created a small fireball straight inside his heart, killing him silently on the spot.
Once he fell dead to the ground, I buried his body into the ground and changed into his completely white robes before picking up the box of crystals and proceeded to slowly walk up. Since there were so many of them, I figured no one would suspect a new face. As I was walking up the stairs I asked Ai:
'Can you tell that guy's level from the experience I got?'
[Under level 10.]
'So they are just errand boys or something similar.'
I felt a bit safer now so I proceeded climbing up the stairs. The walk was a lot longer than I expected and since I was walking a bit slower, many other people kept passing me by.
I wanted to try and listen to their conversation to maybe get a clue or something, but surprisingly no one was saying a single word. Around half an hour of walking later, the stairs ended and I came upon a big wooden door with two people on both sides that looked like guards.
Seeing that everyone was just placing the boxes on the floor in front of the door and picking up empty ones from nearby without saying a single word, I did the same and pretended to walk back downstairs with the others. Once I was out of the sight of the guards and the others, I burrowed into the ground and made my way back. Digging through the ground, I wanted to tunned past the wooden door but noticed that the ground was replaced by a concrete foundation which was reinforced by magic.
'So there's an earth wizard as well.' It made sense, since creating such large underground chambers was no easy feat if you didn't know earth magic. Since tunneling inside was impossible without attracting everyone's attention, I camouflaged myself again and waited patiently in the room with the boxed for someone to come and pick them up. I planned on following whoever come and walk inside the doors.
It took around ten minutes before the door started opening, causing the two guards two straighten their backs and take up a respectful posture.
A skinny old man, wearing a set of golden robes walked through the door and looked with greedy eyes at the crates on the ground. He waved his hand without saying a single world and a set of complex light runes started engraving themselves under the crates. A few seconds later, a bright light that even made me close my eyes for a moment flashed and all the crystals inside the boxed disappeared.
'Ai, what was that? Is it possible to teleport something using light magic?'
[The crystals were not teleported anywhere but absorbed into that wizard's soul. I can feel his soul is already as strong as yours. This person is dangerous.]
'But that was definitely light magic..'
[He used light magic to hide the fact that he's absorbing the soul crystals.]
I frowned and kept observing the situation. After absorbing all the crystals, the man turned towards the guards and said: "These poor souls have been purified. Move the boxes away and I'll come back to purify the next batch in an hour."
"Yes, sir." The guards saluted with a look of reverence in their eyes and proceeded to move the empty boxes to the side.
The man nodded approvingly and started walking back inside through the doors. Seeing this as my chance, I slowly approached behind to follow after him. The man seemed to have felt something because he stopped and started looking back through the still open doors. I also froze on the spot and got ready to attack just in case he discovered me.
"Hmm. I must be really tired.." Mumbled the man before turning around and continuing to walk inside.
I let out a sigh of relief and continued walking after him, a bit further away this time. Thankfully, the man didn't notice me this time and I managed to slip inside. I barely got a glimpse of a door in the distance closing as soon as I walked inside, so I figured that's where the man should have gone through.
After passing through the doors, I looked around and noticed that I was inside some sort of wine cellar. There were only wine racks filled with bottles all around.
After the guards finished moving the empty boxed, they proceeded to close the doors behind me. I continued waiting quietly inside the cellar for another ten minutes before waking towards the door the man used before. I slowly opened the door and saw another flight of stairs with a door at the top. After climbing the stairs and passing through the door at the top, I found myself inside a large dining room. I wanted to explore the building, but I figured it was too dangerous. After asking Ai to mark its approximate location so I can check it out later, I turned around and walked back towards the underground.
Once I reached the guarded door, I said to Ai: 'I'm going to destroy the circle before retreating. Do you have any idea about the most optimal way I can do that?'
[Using earth magic will be the easiest way, but that might cause a collapse of the buildings above ground. It you want to avoid that, I suggest you just blow up the core of the magic circle before filling the place with water and using lightning to erase any trace of the magic circle.]
'All right. That's what I'm going to do then.'
Taking a deep breath, I prepared to take care of the guards right outside the door. Remembering their positions, I used the same tactic and created a fireball in each of their hearts. I felt like the perfect attack to use since it was completely silent and gave no chance for the target to make any sounds. Opening the door and seeing them laying on the ground, I asked Ai:
'Level?'
[The one on the right is around 30. The one on the left is still alive but unconscious so I don't know his level.]
I was a bit surprised that he managed to survive with a burnt heart, but I still created another fireball, this time inside his head.
[He's dead. Level 46.]
'Damn. That's quite high level for a couple of guards.'
Afraid that the wizard from before might come down, I proceeded in running down the stairs while maintaining my invisibility. Once I reached the room the core of the magic circle was in, I started channeling my mana and Ai's voice sounded in my head.
[You could warn them since they might now know that the wizard is absorbing those souls.]
'Are you saying that they might be innocent?'
[Affirmative.]
'Yes, but if I warn them, they might have a way to contact the wizard from before and that would only bring me trouble..' I was about to throw a fireball at the core of the circle either way when Ai said again:
[Then try to create a fireball using space magic a little deeper under the core and detonate it. That should suffice and they will at most get hurt slightly in the explosion.]
Nodding, I did as Ai told me and teleported a fireball two meters under the core of the magic circle before detonating it.
The explosion made all of them run towards the stairs in a frenzy, which made my next job a lot easier. I used the same spell Anise used the last time and started flooding the place. Five minutes later, as the water was about a meter or so deep, I used lightning magic to electrify the whole place. This was to make sure I destroy all the parts of the circle. Once that was done, I teleported through the tunnels I used to get in until I reached back onto the surface and asked Ai.
'How is it? Was the circle completely broken?'
[Yes. The souls of the dead started returning to the spirit well once again.]
Letting out a sigh of relief, I sat down and supported my back on a nearby building. I used quite a lot of mana on spatial magic tonight.
'We did it. Good job, Ai.'