Chapter 548 Time to Act?
In the blink of an eye, three hours had passed since Layla had begun her meditation.
Bella had watched her temporary companion for that time, not needing to move as they were hidden, and, more importantly, the local evil beings seemed interested in other things.
Bella had merely observed the situation around them while waiting for Layla's progress.
After three hours of meditating, Layla was showing signs of progress, having dealt well with the negative elements of the root she had ingested and harnessed the positive part of it.
Lightning covered part of her body as her mana exploded inside her body, bringing her closer and closer to the high level of the 3rd stage.
Sensing that Layla would advance at any moment, Bella looked toward the gray-haired woman, anxious that this person would advance and save her companion.
Given the strange movements of the liches, ghosts, and zombies, she still hoped that her last companion might be alive. But she knew that the chances of her last friend in this city being alive were diminishing with each passing minute.
As she thought this, Layla broke through the small bottleneck she was in, suddenly increasing her mana more than humans could manage at the same level, becoming much stronger in a single moment than she had been before.
Her muscles vibrated as her mana reached a new level, and her understanding of reality improved a bit.
As she felt this, Layla slowly opened her eyes, unable to contain the smile on her face.
'Now I'm a High-level Mage!' Layla clenched her fists in determination, having reached this level much younger than she had previously supposed she would.
Luckily, she was working with Jasmine and Vicente, people who valued the people around them and gave them opportunities. She would be a Low-level Mage at best if it hadn't been for their help!
She knew that and was grateful to them. But the moment she saw Bella's eyes, she put her thoughts aside and returned to what she had promised the green-haired woman.
"Thank you for protecting me these past few hours. And thank you for the resources. Without them, I wouldn't have made any progress." She thanked him before saying. "Anyway, what happened in the meantime? Any problems?"
"No. I just kept watching the monsters move around. They are planning something strange. You should be careful when you move around." Bella replied, looking at Layla with anticipation but also with fear that she was sending this person to her death.
"I'll keep that in mind..." Layla got up from where she was, stretching her muscles and preparing to do what she had to do. "I'll go ahead with our plans and see if your friend is where we expect him to be. If he's alive, I'll bring him back. If not, I'll come back as soon as I confirm he's dead so we can leave this place."
"All right." Bella didn't say much before she saw Layla leave quickly.
'Fast!' The green-haired woman thought to herself, feeling the wind displaced by Layla's movement but unable to see any sign of Layla moving.
One moment, Layla was with Bella, and the next, she was gone!
...
Layla was now fast enough to move without immediately attracting the attention of any beings in her path.
Magical beings usually use mana, sight, or temperature to detect the presence of others around them. It was challenging to tell that someone was in a specific place without using those three senses.
Layla was so fast compared to beings below the 4th stage that there was no time for someone to sense one of these three signs before she was far enough away to be undetectable.
Because of this, she moved quickly among many monsters, but none of them showed any signs of hostility toward her. They just continued to do what they were doing, feeling the displacement of gases in their air but not noticing such a magician moving among them.
In less than two minutes since she had left Bella, Layla had searched several places in this underground area of The Skull City and had seen several monsters preparing for something, excluding the places where Bella's last friend might be.
Amidst this, she was getting closer and closer to the core of this city, where most of the monsters were, as well as the local resources.
When she felt a strong sensation in the direction of where the resources gathered by the monsters were, she couldn't help but shift her focus to look at that place.
'This... Are they gathering all these resources to lure Vicente?' She wondered, seeing no other reason for this strange conduct.
She approached the place where the resources were and saw not only the pile of valuable items that would probably make even Sky Sovereigns greedy but also the two Sovereign monsters, the traps in that area, and Bella's friend.
Gulp!
'They're drinking his blood!' She looked at the man fixed to a cross, who was very weak, pale, and shriveled like a balloon that had lost too much gas.
Beneath the man was a container from which his blood was slowly dripping, a sign that he had already lost a great deal of blood.
'Poor man...' Layla thought as she clenched her fists.
She was part of an organization that had fought many Dark Path magicians. When she encountered creatures from that path, she naturally felt a strong hostility and a desire to act.
Seeing that unconscious body was enough to make her angry, and she felt that it would be a shame to leave such a person behind.
She didn't know if that man was alive or dead, but even if he were, it would be a shame to leave his body behind to be consumed by those monsters.
'I will get his body out of here and take some of these resources with me. Maybe he can still be saved with the help of the right resources.' She looked at the pile of magic items the monsters had collected to lure Vicente to this place.
Identifying the items with the greatest healing properties, life force, and positive elemental affinities, she decided what to take before leaving this place with Bella's friend.
'I will attract the attention of the 4th stage lich one way or another. I'll get the resources I need first. He won't expect me to try to save this man.' She thought to herself before finally entering the large crypt that housed the strongest of The Skull City.
The source of this c𝓸ntent is fr𝒆e(w)𝒆bnovel