Supreme Magus

The metal corridor turned out to be very long. It branched several times because each kind of magical beast had its own breeding facility.

Also, they were further split according to what they were destined to become. The elite Meat Shields were breed in a department while the fuel for the Mana Reactor was breed in another.

To find the right path, Lith just had to check at each intersection where the cameras had been deactivated and where they were still active. Unbeknownst to them, they were following Yondra's group toward the Teks' breeding facility.

"Good gods!" Lith said when Life Vision perceived three familiar life signatures and his Array Detecting spell revealed five elemental blocking arrays to him, hidden but ready to be activated at any moment.

"It's anyone there?" Lith asked, even though he already knew the answer. "We followed your trail."

"Thank the gods, young spirit! It's so nice to see you, we were just biding our time and fearing for the worse." Yondra came from around the corner, hugging Lith while sighing in relief.

She looked terrible. They had been separated barely half an hour ago, yet she looked like someone who didn't have a good night's rest in days. She was covered in sweat, panting heavily with every word.

Yondra seemed to have suddenly got older, to the point that she was even unable to stand up-right properly. She was leaning against Lith rather than just hugging him.

"What happened to you? Are your injuries so severe?" Lith asked while performing Invigoration on her. Her body was fine, but she was running on fumes. Both her mana and stamina were almost depleted.

"No injuries, but you see, I've been thinking ahead." Her crafty smile and hunched posture made her resemble Nana so much that it almost hurt.

"I've disabled the surveillance devices of all the corridors from the last junction so that the Odi don't know where exactly we are." Lith nodded. He had found them with Life Vision and had yelled to pretend to have fallen for her deception.

"Yet the moment I open a door, everything will be for naught. So I spent all of my energies to cast the necessary arrays to turn any Golem that tries to block us into scraps."

Lith found several flaws in her plan. First, if more than one Golem came, they would be doomed. If they activated the arrays while only one construct was inside its area of effect, the second would need but a handful of seconds to make a temporary array collapse.

If they waited for the second construct to enter the arrays, by that time the first Golem might as well already captured them all. Last, but not least, even if they somehow managed to trap several Golems at once, all the Odi had to do was to unleash the magical beasts to finish them off.

The arrays would seal their spells as well, making it impossible for humans to stand their ground against magical beasts.

'This plan is idiotic, Yondra must be beyond desperate.' Lith thought.

"My problem is that if they send more than one Golem we're screwed." Yondra continued. "Don't get me started on how bad things would get if instead of inside the corridor, the Odi make the constructs Warp inside the room, where is not covered by my array's area of effect.

"We can't deal with Golems, magical beasts, and the arrays inside the room at the same time. At least not by ourselves."

'Or not.' Lith corrected himself, listening to Yondra's well-thought reasoning.

"Then what's the meaning of all this?" Lith asked.

"The original plan was for me to rest and recover enough strength to take care of the defensive arrays while Ellkas dealt with the magical beasts. If we manage to move fast enough, we might reach a dimensional rune and escape.

"The elemental blocking arrays are a last last-ditch effort, to cover our retreat in the case the Golems arrive before we find the rune. I planned on using them more defensively than offensively.

"But now that the two of you are with us, things will go much smoother. None of us can fight hand to hand, but you can. Your presence at least halves the time we need to find and activate the rune." Yondra said.

"Keep resting. In such a debilitated state you'd slow us too much." Lith forced her to sit down and handed her some food. Then, he explained what had happened since the group hand been split.

"If they have captured your friends, they must be in the prison, locked by those terrible red chains." Yondra said, explaining to him the artifact's properties.

"Is the prison nearby and can you Warp me there?" Lith asked.

"Yes to both, but please, listen to me first. According to Rainer, there is always a Golem standing guard to the prisoners, so if you go there, you'll trigger the alarm and give away our position."

"Are you asking me to abandon them? Like you abandoned Rainer?" Lith sneered.

"No, what I'm asking you to do is to play it smart." Yondra shook her head. "Let's say you find and save them. What then? You would still be trapped here with no way out. Worst case scenario you'll ruin my plan.

"Here is my idea. Stay here and help us clear the path. If we succeed, all you need to do is to Warp to the prison, rescue them with our help, Warp back here, and get out. You might even not need to fight. Stalling a Golem is much easier than destroying it."

"Your plan is good, but what if after we find the rune you get away and leave me behind? Why should you risk everything for me when freedom is just a step away? What if the Odi or their Golems damage the rune?

"You would reap all the benefits of my work and I would be stuck here." Lith knew that no one would sacrifice so much for a stranger. If their roles were reversed and Yondra wanted his help to save Rainer, he wouldn't think twice leaving her behind.

"He's right, you know? I'm not staying here a second longer than necessary. Don't count on me for your rescue mission. Unless of course…" Morok winked at Lith with a greedy smile on his face. Becoming an Awakened was a nice incentive.

"Neither am I. I'm sorry, kid, but someone has to alert the Kingdom. This is too big for any of us. Only an army of well-prepared Spellbreakers can destroy this place. Anything but running is just suicide." Ellkas tried to sound as if he was more worried about the Kingdom than for his own life, but failed miserably.

"Do you see what I mean? Just point me to the prison and I'll do the rest. I'll not mess with your plan but I won't help you either." Lith stood up, ready to leave.

"There's only one thing I need to know. Can you teach me how to activate a dimensional rune?"

Yondra was conflicted by the choice at hand. She had really hoped that they could escape together, but without Ranger Eari and Ellkas, there was not much she could do. Rainer kept looking at her like a lost puppy, begging her to bring him home.