Chapter 328 - Setting up the Pieces

Kefira cycled her Mana and Cast the Spell, anchoring a spot right in front of her to a place in the distance they could just barely make out. She held the Spell for fifteen seconds, approximately the time it would take to safely sprint to the other side, before releasing it. Instead of dispersing the whole thing, though, like she used to, she was able to gather up the remnants of her weave and maintain half of it to quickly Cast the Spell once again.

She repeated the Casting of the teleport Spell another twelve times, sweat beading her brow by the end. Reivyn didn’t know the exact Mana cost of Casting the teleport Spell, but it was a decent chunk from what he could see. Kefira was nowhere close to reaching a backlash, but she still had to struggle to use so much Mana in such a quick succession. People who weren’t Casters never realized the mental and physical strain put on one’s body through channeling so much Mana. Even though it was the Mana pool used instead of Stamina, the physical strain was equivalent. The difference was that it was metaphysical, and it was quicker and easier to recover from.

Kefira wobbled a bit after she finally fully released her Mana. Reivyn pulled her into his embrace to steady her, and she gratefully rested her head against his chest, eyes closed. They remained like that for several seconds as she recovered. It didn’t take long for the aftereffects to clear, though, as it wasn’t true physical exertion, and Kefira regained her footing, though she continued to lean against Reivyn as she felt there was no need to separate herself just yet.

Reivyn continued to absentmindedly hold Kefira as he turned his attention to the lands below. The Special Unit commanded by Teilon had sprinted through the third seventh teleport Kefira had Cast. As it was the only mission they were doing and it was the first time they weren’t going to be picked up, they erred on the side of strength and sent the entire Special Unit on the mission. It was only Reivyn, Kefira, Refix, Serilla, and the two local guards remaining at the top of the mountain.

The captain of the mercenary company had selected the target alongside the commanding general, but the Special Unit carrying out their mission wasn’t their only responsibility. They had many more things to occupy their time, so they wouldn’t monitor the activities in real time. Reivyn’s Eagle Eye Skill allowed him to pick up a little bit of the details, and it was good training for the Skill, so he opted to stay and watch from his vantage point.

If worst came to worst and the robed man was able to accurately detect and react to the correct teleport location, Reivyn might be able to see it and respond. The plan was for him and Refix to go in hard and fast in that case to distract the powerhouse while the others retreated through the open teleport. It was the only contingency where they would Cast another teleport Spell. The entire point was to prevent the enemy from reacting correctly, and if they did, there was no reason to hold back any longer.

Reivyn’s Eagle Eye Skill was still not sufficient enough to make out any clear details at the distances involved, but he could still see a bit. He could see the blobs of men and women moving about in the open, and engaging in combat was clear as day. He was banking on being able to easily perceive them when they were fighting to alert him to whether or not the robed man appeared. If they started looking like they were in a fight far from any enemy targets, Reivyn was ready to act.

He remained atop the mountain with the others for several hours. He had watched as Teilon led the Special Unit to complete their sneak attack mission which caused enough confusion for the local defenders to launch their own offensive on the enemy positions. The mercenary captain had sent one of the platoons below to participate, and it was their first taste of action since they’d arrived.

The point wasn’t to push the enemy out of their position and reclaim any strategic positions, though, so after a quick skirmish, the defenders retreated after inflicting damage on the invaders. Even though their path to reinforcements and easy retreat was cutoff, the enemy invaders still outnumbered the defenders by a couple of times, even including all of the allies that had shown up. It was going to be a long, drawn-out expedition of attrition. The defenders just needed to cause two to three times as many casualties as they received over time.

Normally such an endeavor would be a miracle, but the bulk of the invader’s army was made up of Tier 2 and 3 soldiers, many of whom weren’t even properly equipped. Their tactics were based on overwhelming numbers without care for casualties, and the defenders were hoping it would be too late before they changed their tactics to accommodate their lack of seemingly infinite reinforcements.

They still had the more prestigious legionnaires that were higher Tier and better equipped. Reivyn could see some of their encampents down below, but it was nothing like the endless waves they’d seen in Vairo. They had destroyed the teleport post before they could move most of their main fighting force into the Region.

The fact that the enemy still outnumbered them more than two-to-one without their main fighting force was a chilling reminder to Reivyn of just how powerful the enemy was.

There was no indication of the robed man finding Teilon and the Special Unit after hours of waiting and watching, and Reivyn eventually lost the trail of the Special Unit as the sun began to set and the shadows began playing with his vision. The reduction in light didn’t affect his ability to see due to his Night Vision, but the shadows played tricks on him when they became elongated and began creeping about in weird patterns.

“Well… it would seem like our plan worked,” Reivyn commented.

The four of them hadn’t remained silent the entire time they had been up on the mountain, but Reivyn’s attention had been focused primarily on the lowlands. He was finally willing to concede that there was nothing more he could do or reason to remain vigilant. Having lost the trace of the Special Unit, Reivyn wouldn’t be able to tell if the robed man found them now. He would just have to trust them and Teilon to remain hidden and make the journey back undetected on their own.

“It’s hard, isn’t it?” Refix asked, looking at his son askance. “Sending people you care about out into the unknown on their own, trusting in their abilities and luck that nothing will go wrong.”

“Yeah,” Reivyn said with a sigh. “I thought I would be able to handle it better considering the amount of trust and autonomy I’ve given to the Mercenary Corps as a whole, but it’s different when it’s people I’m personally invested in, especially a friend like Teilon.”

“Imagine how it must have felt for your mother and I,” Refix said.

Reivyn turned to face his dad. He gave him a quick smile.

“Trust me, dad, I’ve already ruminated on it. I knew from the very moment Knight-Captain Reifold conscripted me all those years ago that it wasn’t going to be easy for you. Especially mom. Knowing what I know about her now, she showed considerable restraint allowing those soldiers to carry me off like that.”

“If we hadn’t been closing in on those Cultists in the area, there’s absolutely zero chance your mother would have restrained herself,” Refix chuckled. “Even then, she immediately sent me a message to stop what I was doing and shadow you and the soldiers to protect you from the outside.”

“Oh? I knew you showed up when the Dungeon was revealed, but how soon did you actually get there?”

“I got there with my Party before your first fight with the goblins on the way to Magron,” Refix revealed. “The hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my life were to not step in when you were in danger. That time you ran ahead of the monster tide and the appearance of the giant demon and Revenants were especially difficult. That being said, I did send part of my Party down into the hole when nobody was paying attention to destroy most of the Revenants before they ever even made it to the surface.”

“Huh, that makes a lot of sense,” Reivyn replied, thinking back to the incident. “I didn’t question it at the time, but looking back on it, it seemed a little lackluster in terms of an ambush. If there had been a lot more Revenants, there would have been nothing we could have done to stop them on our own.”

“Yeah, we thought the coterie of cultists would show themselves then, but it seemed they had one final option in their arsenal.”

“The Dungeon Break.”

“Yup. They miscalculated again, though. I’m guessing they were expecting their boss to show up and help them out, but he never showed.”

“The Masked Man,” Reivyn said, nodding his head. “I haven’t thought about him in a while. I wonder what his motivation for all of that was? He said something about me being a stepping stone for his generals when he re-ignited the war between our Realm and the Abyssal Realm, but that doesn’t make any sense to me.”

“Yeah, no, there’s gotta be something more to it than that,” Refix agreed. “There are plenty of powerhouses on this side for others to whet themselves against. Why would he set you up specifically? And based on us believing he was the one behind the Dungeon Breaks in Vynn, you didn’t even exist when he began his plans.”

“He tried to gaslight me into believing he was responsible for everything I had accomplished,” Reivyn chuckled. “It makes sense in a twisted sort of logic. He caused the downfall of Vynn, causing you and mom to escape together, resulting in you falling in love and having me, thus he’s responsible for my existence at all and everything I’ve done.”

“Quite an egotistical way of looking at things,” Refix snorted.

“I got the sense that even he didn’t believe in his own rhetoric,” Reivyn replied. “Anyway, without more touchpoints on what he’s up to, we won’t know what his plan is any time soon.” He turned and held out his hand to Kefira who had been silently listening to the side. “Let’s go. We’ll have to put our trust in Teilon.”

“You and your dad go on ahead,” Kefira said, shaking her head. “Serilla and I will go and spend some time with Kimberly. I’m sure she’s probably feeling antsy.”

Kimberly had chosen not to remain on the mountain top when Teilon went with the Special Unit. There was nothing she could have done, and she wouldn’t have participated in the operation to distract the robed man if he had appeared, so she had decided to spend her time keeping her mind occupied on other things. She had spent the entire day in the training square working on her Spear and Dancing Skills.

“Alright, sounds good,” Reivyn nodded his head. “She’s probably feeling what I’m feeling times a hundred at this point.”

They were all heading in the same direction at first, so they didn’t immediately split up. They all walked down the long staircase to the caves below. At the exit to the main compound, Reivyn bent down and gave Kefira a quick peck goodbye as they separated in two different directions.

Reivyn spent the rest of the evening Meditating to keep calm, though he didn’t work on anything strenuous with his Mana Skills.

—

It was three more days before Teilon and the Special Unit arrived back at the fort. There was a narrow staircase carved into the side of the cliff face to allow access to the lowlands. It was narrow enough to be easily defensible against overwhelming odds, and there were multiple contingencies to outright destroy the path in case of a breach. Teilon and the Special Unit mercenaries practically crawled up the stairs, exhausted from their mission. Reivyn had immediately dismissed them to get some much needed rest before debriefing them.

Teilon slept for fifteen hours, and he was the first to wake. Kimberly had laid next to him the entire time, simply hugging his sleeping form from behind.

“That sucked,” was the first thing he said to Reivyn as he entered the room.

Reivyn chuckled at his friend as he took a seat.

“It seemed like it went off without a hitch from our perspective,” Reivyn replied.

“Oh, the actual mission wasn’t anything,” Teilon waved his hand in dismissal. “That went as smoothly as could be expected. The part that sucked was having to stay awake and on the move the entire time we were out there. It’s one thing to be able to stay awake for days on end with our Stats, but it’s different when you're constantly at full alert.

“If we didn’t have the strenuous training regimen of your father, I don’t think half of us would have made it back.” Teilon leveled a stern stare at Reivyn. “And you are not to tell him I said that.”

Reivyn laughed.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure he knows without us having to say anything.”

“Knowing and acknowledging are two different things,” Teilon said. “What will happen to my reputation if I’m seen agreeing to his crazy training antics? Anyway, the most important thing is that the robed man didn’t make an appearance.”

“That’s good,” Reivyn nodded his head. “This was only the first mission, though. For all we know, he could have just been waiting for the pickup teleport that never came and thus lost his chance to act. The Special Unit members have proven they can carry out these missions and make their way back, though, so we’ll just have to continue to keep an eye out in the future.

“After you check in with Captain Caivel, I want you to think of areas the mercenaries can improve upon. We’ll focus our future training sessions on shoring up any weaknesses.”

“Sure thing, boss,” Teilon said. “One last thing, though. Remember that ethereal wind in Vairo? The one you said was the ambient Mana being siphoned away?”

“Yeah.”

“You can’t feel it up here, but it’s begun in the lowlands.”