A sigh escapes my mouth, making the air shift and caress me in a simulation of an embrace.
"Please, not now. I'm far too busy. Dark storms are coming, and I have to be prepared, especially since I live not just for myself anymore, but for others…well, other. Singular." I reaffirm my determination and jump out of the open window.
With nothing but a thought, the mana around me quickly changed and transformed into conjured wind, wrapping around my body in a careful, but tight embrace.
Landing on the ground with virtually no sound whatsoever, I kneel and press my hand to the ground. I imagine the mana inside of my core, grab hold of it, and push it out—not forcefully, no. I will it to emit evenly, in a circular pattern with my position as the origin.
"Earth Pulse." I mutter the name of my spell.
A perfectly circular pulse of mana emits from my feet and travels on the ground in a fifty meter radius before eventually dissipating. I send out a few more in an even rhythm, trying to grasp as much of the topography as possible. Because it had been a while, it took me much longer and much more mana to accurately grasp the land's topography.
After a minute or two of expending the mana in my core using this spell, I managed to grasp the cave's geography.
Earth Pulse, when handled by a normal magician of decent mastery of the spell and standard insight into the earth element, can send out a pulse of earth-attribute mana to commune with the earth spirits and let them scan the ground. Accuracy and range of this spell mostly depends on the caster themselves, the user's talent playing a large role in it. However, more isn't always better. Though some people can have, for example, a much higher range compared to others, that doesn't necessarily mean that they have higher accuracy.
In fact, it's the opposite.
By using the law of equivalent exchange, one can say that the higher one's spell accuracy is, the lower their effective range would become and vice versa. Though this becomes less relevant the more talented and insightful a magician is, all aspiring magicians must face this cruel but fair reality if they ever want to reach the top.
Though, I'm not one to say all these things. Ever since my descent into this labyrinth and my vow with the High Spirits, magic—or rather, mana itself seemingly heeded my orders and requests as easily as slicing butter. It was unnatural and highly irregular even to me. Any spell I could imagine was learned and mastered in what would normally take decades, possibly even centuries. Though, this didn't work on ALL spells.
I have extremely high aptitude with many elements, sure, but not all of them. There are some, although few elements that are simply beyond my scope of understanding. The seemingly infinite well of wisdom and insight that I could tap into just doesn't work with elements I don't have any alignment to.
The creatures I made the contract with, my vow, was the inhabiting High Spirits of this very labyrinth. This…deal that I made with them granted me virtual immunity as long as I am within their reach. This meant that, as long as I stay within the confines of this labyrinth, I am effectively…immortal, as they say.
This doesn't make me invincible, however, but rather gives me the optimal power, mastery, skill proficiency, powerful titles, and even a few handy attributes to have the best advantage when encountering— and sometimes eliminating — the most powerful beings that dwells inside of this labyrinth. This is one of my duties as a Guardian, a rule and promise that I made when signing my contract to become a Guardian.
Without any of these privileges, I doubt I would be where I am right now. Truly a blessing…but not without cost.
As an elf, although that part of me has been buried and diluted since becoming a Guardian, I have lost and gained many things.
I wouldn't go as far as say that I'm dissatisfied with my life, especially with the inclusion of somebody new, although that person IS a little eccentric—strange, even.
"Sheesh, I shouldn't be thinking about such useless things right now. I have work to do."
For the past couple of months since I met my knight, I have been getting reports from the surrounding spirits that; The Vicious Dragon of Flame and Destruction, Fafnir of the Fiery Pits, has been going around and making all sorts of deals with foreign beings and hunting and killing powerful beings within the labyrinth.
A couple of the spirits that I talked to — those of the wind and earth alignment — have reported that the vicious beast has been gathering and recovering it's previous power. There has also been reports of contact with Regin, The Flowing Tide of the Frozen East.
It would seem that the vicious dragon has been up to no good one again, though this time it seems to be more than just a light threat or a destruction spell on the level of a prank…to me, anyways.
Finally finishing my spell, stand up and will the dust off my robes.
"The seals seem to be fine, the structural integrity of the walls surrounding my home also seem to be within acceptable levels, though some damage had been done, most likely by some mana sensitive monster. The illusory charms seem to be within acceptable levels too…but the detection wards and some of the barriers imbued by my spirit magic had been completely obliterated. Even in the case of a fluke or malfunction, that amount is simply just too much." I assess the situation as my detection spell told me.
My barriers, or rather, the nature of my mana and magic is different from others. With my vow in effect, I can command lesser spirits with ease and standard spirits with conditions.
In this case, I ordered standard spirits to keep guard and power the barriers themselves, maybe even repair it in the unlikely scenario that it ever gets broken. However, that didn't happen this time. The barriers have been broken beyond repair, and so the spirits that I called upon and ordered to guard it have been relinquished of their duties, eventually melting back into the spiritual realm.
"Hmm…" I tap my foot and process this new information.
Something very powerful had done this, one that falls within my jurisdiction to deal with.
I will the mana to transmute into conjured wind once more, letting it envelop me and lift me up. In the span of a second, I was lifted up I to the air, my feet no longer touching the ground. Then, I pushed forwards, and the sphere of wind around me sent me flying in the direction I desired.
Loud banging rocked the geode I had fashioned as my base.
*BANG BANG BANG*
Then, an ear-deafening crash echoed within the geode like an earthquake or a giant's footsteps.
*BOOM*
The walls shook and pieces of the ceiling collapsed as the thuds grew louder and louder. Cracks started seeping out of the ground and into the walls, eventually ruining it entirely.
Pieces of it fell on me, of course, but my barrier easily defended against it. If it wasn't for my Flight spell, I probably would have been rendered helpless. However, since it is active, I didn't have to worry about any danger. Though…
"I don't think he's gonna survive something like this. Especially the ones causing it." I mutter aloud in the language of the spirits. As I did, several of them flew towards the cabin, to the sleeping knight in my room.
"Well then..." I crack my neck and face to the left. Beyond the earthen walls and magical seals of my residence, burning scarlet eyes met my own, meeting and colliding as sparks practically flew between our gazes.
"What the hell are you doing here, you egoistic maniac?"