Elara had mentioned that Beluto had a powerful attack that could expand into a world-encompassing beam of light. Unless hiding in buildings or underground, humans wouldn't be able to survive it.
However, for me, this attack was merely an inconvenient glare besides being overwhelmingly bright.
But how did Adrian know this would happen?
"Phew—"
The brilliant light lasted at least several minutes before gradually dissipating. Watching the illumination on the curtains slowly fade, Adrian finally exhaled in relief, plopping down on the floor.
"I call this the 'Light Judgment'. Direct exposure is life-threatening, but there shouldn't be any major danger for a while after this. Everyone can rest first!"
"What was that just now?"
Ron still hadn't recovered from the shock - he had certainly never witnessed such a large-scale eruption of light elements. Vivianne, unable to sense light elements, didn't react as strongly and just looked utterly bewildered.
Yet for a moment, no one spoke.
Having some idea of the situation, I had many questions, but couldn't even begin to answer Ron's. Once my vision finally recovered, I couldn't help but voice the first inquiry.
"Who is she?"
I pointed at the bespectacled middle-aged woman.
"She's from the Sage Council. Before Vivianne, she mistakenly entered that cave too, apparently some high-ranking researcher..."
Seeing this crazy woman discard the bedsheet, craning her neck outside with keen interest yet not daring to go out immediately, Adrian had no choice but to respond.
"A high-ranking Sage Council researcher?"
I couldn't help feeling excited - wasn't this our destination after leaving Edenmere for the Sage Council? Never expected to encounter an Council member here. Truly a case of inadvertently stumbling upon the solution.
"What was your research field...?"
If it involved souls, even better. She might be able to explain what happened to me.
"Ahem...let me introduce myself first!"
Seeing everyone's gaze focused on her, the middle-aged woman finally looked back inwards. With a serious expression, she began speaking formally.
"My name is Judith, from the magic research institute under the Crescent City Alliance. As for my research area, of course it's the most important, most fundamental elemental theory!"
"Elemental theory? What's that?"
I couldn't help feeling a little disappointed upon hearing this. The so-called elemental theory probably couldn't help much in understanding my soul. But there was nothing to be done - the present priority was figuring out how to escape this place, not dwelling on such matters.
"Elements are the basis of all things! Our world is made up entirely of elements! So if we can deeply understand elements, it's very meaningful for unraveling the mysteries of the universe and our own origins!"
Broaching her specialty, Judith immediately began speaking at length, magically summoning a cup from the table.
"Take this cup for example. Although it appears ceramic on the surface, you might assume from common sense that its elemental composition is earth. But in fact, ceramic is a mixture of multiple elements - the six elements of fire, water, earth, wind, light and darkness all contribute! The only difference from other substances is a slightly higher earth element content with relatively less of the other elements."
This was quite fresh information. However, none of us listeners were really interested in her lecture at the moment. Who had the spare attention for elemental esoterica now?
"May I ask your tier?"
Ron couldn't help but interject. That previous battle was too horrific. If not for Adrian's surprise attack, we might all have perished here. So this Judith better be a powerful ally.
"Third-tier earth mage!"
"..."
However, her answer left me dismayed. Was she being serious? It was understandable for a theoretical researcher to only reach the third tier, which was already quite decent. I used to be third tier myself.
"Hehe...I've also done some magic array research, so I should still be useful."
Seeing our silence, Judith added awkwardly.
"That's useless!"
I was well aware of how powerful magic arrays could be. Reed used to create all sorts of troublesome ones that even caused me misfortune directly.
But when potentially facing an enemy like Beluto, no magic array, no matter how sophisticated, would mean anything. I didn't believe any array empowerment could allow her to instantly defeat the Light God!
"What's with that dismissive attitude towards magic arrays?"
Noticing my expression, Judith immediately took offense.
"I know the angel clan is gifted, especially in light magic. But you can't underestimate magic arrays!"
"You misunderstood!"
I hurriedly smiled to placate her, but she remained unappeased, retorting:
"Nevermind anything else, can you materialize light elements? You don't even need to maintain it for long, just a brief instant is enough!"
"Materialize? Impossible, right? You can do that?"
I said doubtfully. She was really demanding the improbable. Not just humans, even in Edenmere few angels could accomplish that.
According to Reed, elements were essentially energy that could be converted into matter, so naturally elements could also transform into physical form through materialization.
Though it sounded like science fiction from an Earth technological perspective to convert energy into specific matter, in this magical world with the existence of magic arrays, anything became possible.
Of course, even manipulating elements indirectly through arrays involved quite complex processes, especially in constructing the arrays - an extremely profound discipline few could wield freely.
Angels were a special case. Despite lacking full mastery over magic arrays, their innate attunement to light elements compensated. By pooling their power with simple arrays, multiple angels could still achieve light element materialization, as the materialized form retained the element's properties - potent against magical beasts, like Elara's fancy longsword.
So I didn't think Judith could so easily accomplish this, but I was proven utterly wrong.
"Why impossible? Adrian said our current environment is rich in light elements, perfect for a demonstration."
She retrieved some pens from somewhere and swiftly drew an intricate magic array on the floor, taking no more than five minutes in total. This was my first time witnessing a human so versed in magic arrays that even Reed might not surpass her.
Ultimately, most of Reed's knowledge came from studying books written by humans in the first place.
"Here it comes!"
Only a trickle of mana was needed to activate the array. As elemental energy poured in, I could feel abundant light elements gathering within, quickly materializing into an exact replica of Judith's cup from the array's center.
"Feel free to touch it. You can't pick it up or take it out of this array, but it's undoubtedly a solid physical form!"
This woman was like a weaker but more knowledgeable version of Reed! The two cups did look perfectly identical outwardly. But the one from the magic array was composed of pure light elements, essentially the same as my body's makeup.
"Such a pure elemental physical form cannot occur naturally! Only through artificial intervention. And the more mature the materialization technique, the lower the elemental leakage, like how you can still faintly see my light cup glowing due to some leakage. Of course, angels possess the most flawless materialization ability themselves!"
Admiring her handiwork, Judith launched into another habitual explanation.
"Though also technically ceramic in material, its elemental composition is light, so my earth magic can't control it at all..."
"Enough of that, don't you see what time it is?!"
Vivianne, impatient, cut her off and turned to Adrian questioningly.
"Where exactly are we? What was with those angels earlier? And Feliciana mentioned the strange time flow in that cave - do you understand all this?"
Indeed, once Judith started chatting, the conversation had gone off track.
From Adrian's appearance and subsequent behavior, he seemed very familiar with the situation here and what would happen next. Vivianne's barrage of questions struck at the heart of the matter as everyone focused their attention on Adrian.
As for us being in the past 10,000 years, that was merely my personal guess which I hadn't shared with everyone yet. But it didn't prevent me from wanting to hear Adrian's opinion.
"More or less, yeah...you've basically got it..."
But to my surprise, Adrian just sighed and dismissively acknowledged the question in a perfunctory manner. Then he stood up and went into another room.
"Let me rest for a bit."
What was this? This wasn't Adrian's usual demeanor! Had he suffered some blow?
I looked at the closed room door in utter bewilderment. Turning around, I saw the others basically had the same lost expression.