Chapter 870 870 We Can Check
?Wolfe sighed as he got the bad news. If even a world of Dragons was not a safe place, then where could the Magi have even gone to survive? Some had fled to the Demon Realms, but that seemed like it was a last resort, and the Fae didn't have any in their world.
"I'm not innately skilled with the Space Element, but I have Elemental Affinity to let me cast spells outside my specialty. I could open a small portal and check?" Wolfe suggested.
The Representatives nodded grimly, before the aging Elven Prince responded.
"That is the only way to know for certain. If they are still in a safe place, then we owe it to them to let them know what is going on in this world. That the mana became too imbalanced and the barriers between worlds started falling. If they have a Space Saint, they might even be able to resolve the issue." He agreed.
Wolfe began to form the array on a clear stone, allowing the others to see what he was doing. This was a group find, so he wasn't going to hold out the spell as a secret. Not that it mattered, as only a few of them would even be capable of casting it at all, and they both likely already knew the spell, if not the coordinates of the safe haven.
Once the base of the spell was laid, Wolfe added the layers to ring a soft chime at the other end when it opened, and to direct the spell to the set coordinates.
"Alright, I am about ready to activate the Array. Are there any objections?" He asked.
The Ancient Demon looked to the Elven Prince, and they both worked together to cast a defensive barrier over the portal area.
"Go ahead. We have the area secured, just in case the other side is not secure." The Prince agreed.
Using two Rank Eight casters on the barrier seemed like overkill to Wolfe, but he activated the portal and waited as the chime sounded on the other side.
There was no sign of life, no response, and Wolfe wondered if they had moved in the last two hundred years. He might be ringing at another ruin. But when he increased the sensitivity of Detect Hidden, he saw that calling the other side a ruin was being generous.
The other side of the portal opened to a volcanic wasteland, nothing but bare magma flows as far as his eyes could see. Some of it still had rivers of molten rock flowing in the distance, marking either an extremely violent or recent eruption.
"Well, that's a bust. If they are in that world, they're not at this location anymore." Wolfe sighed.
Just as he was about to close the portal, Wolfe spotted movement in the distance, something human sized, and headed in their direction. So, he hesitated, wondering if they had still kept someone nearby monitoring the location in case there was an attempt to contact them.
But what he found was far more horrifying.
The creature had the robes of a Magi, simple and layered, but it had four feathered wings on its back, and half of its face had been melted away, leaving nothing but bare bone and a glowing eye in one socket.
The other stared at them with pure insanity, and the creature began to speak.
To Wolfe, it was a keening wail of pain and longing, but the Demons seemed transfixed, and the Fae were covering their ears in pain.
"Shut it. Close it now before we are all doomed." The ancient Demon demanded, and Wolfe slammed the portal shut, leaving the creature on the other side.
"What the hell was that? It was dressed like a Magi, so I thought it might be an undead of some sort, which can be reasoned with or healed." Wolfe explained.
The Elven Prince wiped sweat from his brow and shook his head.
"That is something that should not exist in the mortal worlds. It might have once been a Magi, or just mimicked the clothes, but it was a Tormentor, a creature of the lowest planes, and a servant of the Evil Gods.
It is to the lowest planes what the Seraphim are to the Upper Planes. The amount of power that it wields might not be on par with yours, though most of them are considered to be at the Overlord Rank or higher. But the real danger is that their cry can warp the mind and imbue mortal beings with their madness, before the corrupted mana slowly converts them to another Tormentor.
No known healing magic can stop the process, and even death is no guarantee of success, as if you don't burn the body, it will often return to life after absorbing enough ambient mana."
Wolfe frowned. "It sounded... sad. The noise it was making sounded like it was crying out for help, but didn't know how to ask."
The others gave him a strange look, and the Ancient Demon explained.
"Demons hear it as an enticing call, either to comfort or power, depending on the type of Demon. The Fae feel it as a corruption of nature, as they are technically upper plane beings. It causes them physical pain to hear it.
It is strange that the Magi hear it that way, but perhaps it is meant to lure you in, to get you to try to help, to fix the Tormentor, so it can corrupt you as well?"
While they were standing there discussing it, two more people joined them, stepping out of a portal that smelled like the Demon Realms.
"What in the seven hells are you lot doing? I heard a Tormentor." The massive Demon King demanded.
Wolfe could feel his power, but this wasn't a King that he had met before. It seemed that the Ancient Demon knew him, though, as did the Elven Prince.
"Elder King, our apologies, we didn't know that there would be a Tormentor there. We saw a note that the Magi might have run to the Dragon World to seek refuge, and followed their instructions to contact them." The rank Eight Ancient Demon, who served as this Continent's Representative, explained with an almost fawning and servile tone.
"The Dragon World? Which one?" The King asked.
Wolfe lit up the runes to the world, and the Demon stared at them in concern.
"That shouldn't be right. The Dragons said that they won that war. Perhaps there are still a few left over that weren't destroyed. I will speak to their King, and see what can be done to purge the taint from the region.
Now, what brought you here in the first place? This area is abandoned." He asked.
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