Once I reached way above the pit, my eyes witnessed the entire south-west side of dungeon city, an area which have not ventured much before. In my mana field, I notice countless strong presences lingering everywhere.
'This must be where the nobles and rich folks must live.'
I quietly stopped prying into their homes and focused my mana field to detect Alexia's mana signature. With bit of a effort, I managed to single out an identical mana flow. 'It has to be her!'
As my body slowly began to descent, I conjure my purple gravitational magic circle. Suddenly an arrow pierced my hand and disrupted my mana flow which destroyed the magic circle. "What the-"
Below at the edge of the pit, I saw a small battalion of archers and magic casters aiming at me, the crest of cross swords on their shoulders frightened me. "I cannot be seen by them at any cost-"
One of the clerics below, conjectured a golden magic circle. At the very first glance, I recognized the spell and covered my eyes but it was too late.
'Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!'
I spoke yet no sound came, my ears stung in silence and my body felt motionless even though I was falling from thousands of metres from sky. 'They crippled my senses!'
Suddenly, my hand lit up on fire assuming I was hit by a fire spell followed by a barrage of rock pincers, the small stones passed through my limbs yet I did not felt any pain. I gritted my teeth and covered my head.
'They are trying to capture me alive. But I am not that naïve.'
With a swift motion, I fired multiple water jets from my legs and shot forward.
"What is he doing?" A wizard in orange robes squinted his eyes to watch me flying in circles.
"He is like a cornered dog, afraid and desperate. Prepare the fire spells! Pull the strings and aim! In the name of emperor, I cast you down!" The cleric in white robes and black monastery hat slammed his staff.
Multiple mages conjectured their spells and archers aimed at me and fired.
'This might hurt but-' I overflowed my brain with mana that various blood vessels popped in an instant, causing brain haemorrhage. This is a risky move which will clean my sense but could cause long term damage if not treated correctly.
Mid air doing aerobatics, I literally sneezed a litre of blood out. Every cough and every blink burned as blood gouged out. But it broke the spell, blurry it may be, but I could see and it was not pretty.
A fire ball hit me in my face and threw me off balance, I released another stream of water from my hand to regain my footing. In panic, I dodged multiple spells and arrows, though it looked really bad, my body was mostly harmless with minor injuries.
"Is that even human?" "How did he even dodge all that while being blind?"
"Silence!" The cleric stomps his staff and summons another golden magic circle. "You! Call for immediate assistance, register threat level 3!"
An elven archer in golden armour nodded and ran off.
"Sir Acolyte. The suspect's mana flow is weak, such threat level is an overstate-"
Acolyte the cleric clicked his tongue and dismissed his own magic circle. "Archers! Aim! Gus! Shoot!"
The female magician beside the cleric smiles awkwardly as she was ignored. "Mediocre mana flow or not. These movements and confidence are highly suspicious."
"Suspicious? In what way?"
Suddenly the ground below them shook, whirled and began to sink into the pit. "Mira!" Acolyte pulled the female magician towards him and summoned multiple magic circles only to use them as a staircase.
The other mages were not quick enough and slid straight into the pit. Few eleven archers got away thanks to their reflexes but only handful survived.
"Quick! Shoot an anchor arrow down to pull othe-" As the cleric was barking orders, his voice trailed off as a gigantic red creature crawled to them. Mira who was in Acolyte's arms couldn't help but scream when the creature attacked.
The archers fought back and but they could not do much against hundreds of tentacles. Their nimble body was literally man handled by the bloodkin, twisting their limbs to make sure they do not escape.
When they all were captured and Acolyte along with Mira was the only one remaining, the cleric made a bold choice by throwing his colleague away from the monster.
'Just about now.' I watch my bloodkin as it makes a dramatic descent down the pit.
Mira just curled up in a corner, watching her boss get dragged to his dead. Her eyes too shocked to cry, heartrate out of the roof and body too numb to even feel anything. She was scared shitless.
I noticed that the lone mage on the edge of the pit, her mana flow still strong, she appeared very much alive. 'Should I finish her off?'
Luckily, I didn't need to ponder much on this question as I sensed more knights heading in this direction. I turned my hands backwards and blasted myself off the pit.
It has been a while since I felt the bottom of my mana capacity and it was not pleasant at all. It begins with feeling bit nausea but then fatigue takes over the body so much so that even breathing becomes difficult.
I decide to stop in an alleyway to catch breath, it was so bad that I tripped on my touchdown.
"Fuck… Hah. Hah. I could do just put the mana field up for few seconds, need to find her." I spread my consciousness all over my mana field, trying to find Alexia and I did.
Like a desperate beggar, I ran through the streets towards a particular building. People sneered at me and some even cursed as I ran but I didn't care. All I need to do is to find her.
I spot a motel in the corner of a dark alleyway.
Without a second thought, I through the main door and looked around for her mana signature.
'She is here.'
The man behind the counter stood up to throw me out, probably because of my dirty attire he mistook me as a beggar. "Hey! Get out! Shoo!"
At first, I didn't pay any attention to him but when grabbed my arm, I pumped all my remaining mana into my arm and shoved the man straight into the wall. He appeared to have lost consciousness but did not die. I found a staircase and ran up.
On the third floor, I heard a small whimper.
I halted my steps and turned to the side, the sound of whimpering came from the far right of hallway of rooms. With each step the sound intensified, slowly adding crying sounds as well. A sound of a girl crying.
My muscles tensed as my mind reached the worst case scenario. 'He didn't touch her, did he?'
As I crept closer to the room, the sounds became more frequent and my bloodlust raged as well. Now, I stood right in front of the door, the sounds were too obscene with no doubt. "I kill him. I rip his jaw and skin his body. That piece of sh-"
"Ah!" Suddenly, a moan came from the inside and my rage exploded. I burst into room, ready to fight without mana or Melsier's blood. But scene in front of me was shocking, even for me.
Jerald was moaning being tied to a chair and Alexia was crying on the bed.