A week later.
Light darkness clasped the night sky along the path to Liberia illuminated by the stars and 2 moons, in a hidden cave a shallow light illuminated and thwarted the darkness.
" Lilian." A male voice called out to one of the figures sitting around the dimly lit globe. The voice tried albeit failing to mask the maleness within.
" Captain?" Lilian responded shifting her attention to the similarly dressed man. They were currently draped in black clothes with only their eyes exposed as they sat ready for the mission. Their figures melding with the dark walls.
" You failed. Both of you." The man said pointing at Joannah who was currently laying on her back staring at the darkness fizzling at the cave entrance as forest shadows marched ever slowly into the cave.
"...." Lilian hung her head low.." I know." She said in a low voice. In her eyes no longer was there eyes radiating warmth and belonging of a nun but the intent prove herself and be of some worth to her lord.
" It's not as if he killed young lord Morbius himself. He is too inept to do that. We just need catch him and extract from him who did it. " Joannah unceremoniously said with a scoff and she shot questioning look at the the leader.
" So by that logic we didn't fail. Our task was infiltration and surveillance which we accomplished. Kanan squad was the one that failed." she harrumphed.
" Alright. I will see in Liberia how you have not failed then. John should be back soon from setting up the plan." The captain shut his eyes slowly becoming half-asleep.
In Liberia....
A 6 foot 4 figure walked along the merchant streets slowly buying supplies unaware that he had been made or rather that it took shorter that he had expected.
" That's another 200 silvers ..." Nathaniel sighed as left the market. For a week he hadn't stepped foot into the adventurer's building. The relationship didn't matter as it was a business exchange but the place irked him somewhat especially given that in both guild branches he was at odds with the guildmasters.
" Tomorrow I will raid the last floor of the goblin pit." Nathaniel muttered wearily as he went back to his room. Compared to his 1st attempt now he looked shabbier than when he had first encountered Dorothy. For the past 7 days he had hunted on the 2nd floor and exterminated at least 12 hobgoblins and 5000-7000 goblins however each time he entered there was another army already in place.
There was no respawn in the dungeons of Mergard. In fact most of the dungeons were planar portals that had been set up by saint magicians of eras long gone to explore the unknown universe. The difference between a labyrinth and a planar portal was that the labyrinth served as the magician's lab for magical research and the planar portals were portals that lead to other dimensions located on regions of high mana density. Of course some magicians merged the two.
The goblin pit was one such planar portal. There were of course dungeon breaks but those arose from the barrier surrounding the portal failing to contain the monsters or weathering of the barrier. Compared to dimensional leaps, summoning rituals of beings that were not native to the spirit world was much harder and almost impossible until one mad magician succeeded and the end result thousands of years later was the dark emperor Linnaeus.
" Its good that I have decided to become an augmenter." Nathaniel silently muttered.
[ Name: Maxwell Beaufort
Age: 36
Rank: Apprentice Augmenter III
Null force : 215
Null force recovery: 20/hr
Strength: 45
Agility: 33
Endurance: 49%
Affinities: Ice (96%), Wind (89%), Lightning ( 91%)....(space 89%)
Spells: Ice lance, Ice spear, ice shield, ice shards, wind blade, wind barrier
Static domain, petals of life, parallel mind.
skills: Apprentice Sword mastery( 55%), Tracking( 67%)]
' Though my endurance fell at least my body is sturdier. Null force...' Nathaniel raised his hand and a transparent force permeated and the air trembled slightly. Waving his hand he stopped. Unlike when he had first entered the city his null force had now almost congealed but there was a nagging sensation of incompleteness.
( AN: Endurance in the novel refers to the character's ability to sustain and bear the wear and tear of their power. Due to magic circuits that purify atmospheric mana, mana in the individuals is of higher purity and the body cannot sustained prolonged exposure to a large quantity of it. With practice of spells/ aura the body adapts and strengthens. Nathaniel's endurance dipping is due to his incomplete null force which is stronger and more devastating in nature than mana.)
Nathaniel had found that null force was unlike mana and anti-mana. Null force was not a negation between mana and anti-mana. Much like the existence of power scaling between beings of the cosmos there also existed scaling between the forces of the cosmos. Anti-mana and mana exist on the rank however anti-mana was sparse and existed mostly in high purity compared to mana which permeated the cosmos in abundance however was of low quality.
Highly pure mana did exist however such areas were assimilated as blessed lands and enhanced the power of universal existences much like Linnaeus's ancestor the Primordial Titan in fact most of the 7 primordial beings had already manifested null force after many cosmic origin cycles.
( AN: Most of the information is to highlight that null force is powerful and very much sought after. However it will become more in depth later.)
Shrugging of that sensation Nathaniel truly felt that this was the path forward. Using mana eyes no longer within him was the existence of a mana circuit but a core that was becoming more solid as he used his power. Something akin to a saint magician's core but more terrifying. From the core translucent threads were inserting themselves into each cell rapidly modifying and empowering his being.
Nathaniel's null force could separate into each of its subunit forces. So on the 4th day he masked his null force as mana and constantly radiated mana to blend in with the civilians none the wiser.
With a feeling of weariness he returned to the inn. Stepping through the front door bouts of laughter livened the mood as on the 1st floor adventurer's and city folk exchanged stories over ale. His presence was an unwelcome one as most adventurer's had already heard about his fight with Dorothy given that she was the vice leader to one of the top 5 teams The Hounds. So many stayed clear of his path.
" Can I my meal sent to my room? Turkey stew with lemon, freshly baked bread, potato crips and grape ale. 2 servings. " Nathaniel asked one of the waiter toiling around dishes. " Alright." The waiter went about his business.
Ascending the steps of the 3 story building, floors 2 and 3 were guest rooms and the 1st floor the lobby, dining area and a room of the inn owner. Sparrow Inn was one of Count Von Stein's businesses and was found in 65% of Belford kingdom's cities or towns.
Steeping into the room..."Whoosh!!" With apt refocus a barrier covered Nathaniel as knives slammed into it failing to pierce through. Thoughts running rampant he barely let out a whisper as the floor illuminated and in less than a second of the light he was gone.
" Lets go." A feminine voice said as she followed suit and 2 figures vanished into the pentagram on the floor teleporting to lands unknown.
A few blocks north of sparrow inn, in another inn that was rundown without knocking a brown haired male figure in his 40s burst inside with a look of elation. " Did you sense it?!"
"I did." Another figure stood up already arming himself. " Lets go. Finally we can complete lord Lennard's orders." The two of them rapidly departed to the sparrow inn. The two men were inquisitors of the Rynberg empire that were still searching for traces of the missing Ar'garths for months they had found traces that lead to Liberia but since they had hit a dead end and this was a chance.
Within the Maldon thicket, southwest of Liberia near the shrub trees and bushes a teleportation circle beamed as within Nathaniel covered by a mana barrier appeared. Jumping backwards thorny vines attacked the barrier seeking to bind him as he was fighting the vines. One tenth of a second later the teleportation circle lit up again and 2 figures flashed through.
" Do it." One the figures said as she then rushed at Nathaniel shadow chain in hand.
John stopped the vine attack and from his pockets he withdrew and activated a linking stone. Arrows dappled in poison aimed at his limbs and Nathaniel lost in his thoughts shuddered as the barrier broke. 'Wha-' He dodged by tumbling the shadow chains and entered a kill zone. Within the tall trees on 4 trees that marked the cardinal directions figures draped in black stared down at Nathaniel in the center of the kill zone.
" Took you a while.." Nathaniel smirked as he looked up vying for openings.
" Lilian... Joannah its been a while. Who are they? Care to introduce me." Nathaniel spoke looking at John and the team leader Cloud. He clenched his fist not feeling any mana.
" Give up Nathaniel or whoever you are. Come quietly or else." Joannah spoke as all of them took out daggers and short swords.
" Anti-mana is it? or a sparse mana zone. Haaa..." With a sigh," Of course Ivar's power has been thoroughly researched after so long." Nathaniel mumbled to himself. Of course to the naked silence his words were screams dauting the ears of those above that perked up at the mention of Ivar's name. Very few knew Millennium twilight's true name or how his power worked but within those with in depth knowledge Blackwing was at the top. They trained and nurtured him after all.
" How do you know about Ivar?!" The leader questioned with a shriek. John, Liliana and Joannah stood wondering who was Ivar. Cloud was one of the vice leaders of the Blackwing organization and he of course knew about Ivar. " Where is he?! Tell me or suffer." Cloud spoke with rapid apprehension as he knew this went from an S class apprehension and intelligence mission to a calamity mission if Ivar was involved.
Nathaniel marveled at the power held by Ivar's name alone. " If you won't attack then I will."
' Wind storm.' A gust levelled the trees as sharp winds aimed at the assassins. They jumped back landing landing further away from Nathaniel. ' Shit.' " John! How can he do magic? What happened to the anti-mana field!?" Liliana bellowed as she struggled in the fierce winds to locate Nathaniel.
Without warning John crushed the linking stone and within 5 seconds the party felt the flow of mana without orders rapidly advanced towards Nathaniel.
' Is this it or are there more? No, there shouldn't be.' Nathaniel observed the rapidly enclosing figures. Cloud led the charge as from his clasped hands lighting surged with dragon vigor and lightning nets aimed at Nathaniel. From behind him water surged with a nest shadow snakes prancing within. Lilian and Joannah combined their attacks the water tide rapidly advanced with Nathaniel as the epicenter for both attacks.
'Death!' Nathaniel suddenly kicked to his right landing a vicious blow on John's torso whose dagger barely nicked Nathaniel's neck. "Bam!" "Ugh." John's left arm took the blow as he staggered backwards.
" Wooshx3" Swerving madly in a circle the air the dagger shot forth the chain extending as Nathaniel almost dodged but ravenously the dagger drew his blood as slash elongated on his face carving it up.
Blood splattered and within that one fiftieth of a minute the lighting and shadow snake water converged and from the epicenter waves of ice instantaneously gobbled the ground creating a land of ice.
Nathaniel's mana converged into petals as one landed in his mouth his hands sluggish as purple veins spread on his from the wound. " Cou-plerghh" He vomited dark murky blood. 'Fuck. They are good.' Wiping the blood from his lips he turned to the assassins.
Clenching his fist strength and power slowly returned as the poison dissipated rapidly enhanced by null force. Extending both hands an arm bracer of ice slowly slithered and encased his left hand. On his right hand a hilt followed by a cross guard formed as long sword blade of ice that was a meter long met the cross guard.
Liliana and the others marveled at the sight as very few had adequate elemental mastery to do what he just did. A curved oval shield formed from the arm bracer. Now Nathaniel looked like a knight except the lacking armor.
" Its time to finish this." He addressed them. Floating shards of ice descended aimed at the assassins.
" Take him alive." Cloud said as a lighting dagger attached to chains of lighting formed in his hands.