Chương 87: Waiting for the Signal

Nicholas paced through the dark room. He couldn't keep still while his men were being slaughtered on the surface. A soft blue light pulsed from the corner of the room, it was the only source of light inside. He took a deep breath. The damp smell of earth was the only thing keeping him company. A shattered glass artifact lay in the corner. Thankfully, it wasn't the only one. Through another, he could still watch what was happening above. The last time he'd looked, the boy... the mage had been fighting an archmage.

Somehow, he'd won. Nicholas wasn't sure how, but he'd won. Adolin didn't look to be in good shape after the battle. The clothes Nicholas himself had prepared for him when he first arrived at the estate were in tatters. Yet despite that, his injuries had vanished moments later. Nicholas still found it difficult to believe that a mage with such overwhelming strength was also capable of healing. Of Life. He pushed the thought aside and resumed pacing around the chair in the center of the room.

Waiting for the right moment to leave the bunker, join the battle, and avenge his men. It was the hardest thing he had ever done. Waiting. A few minutes later, he stopped and sat in the chair. The artifact lay on a small table next to him, but he ignored it. He... he wasn't sure if he could continue his mission if he saw what was happening outside. The ground quaked every few seconds. With every quake, he felt his throat grow dry. He took his halberd from his inventory and rested it across his legs.

Taking out a cloth and some oil, he started wiping it. It was the only thing that calmed his mind and stopped him from thinking about what was happening outside. Time passed slowly. Every second felt like a lifetime, and his anger continued to rise. The chair had joined the artifact in the corner, shattered into hundreds of pieces. He kept glancing at the artifact on the table, but he still didn't have the courage to pick it up.

Doing so would make it difficult for him to fulfill his mission, and he didn't want that. He had to do everything in his power to see it through. It didn't mean he had to like it. Not every mission had to be something he liked, he told himself. The missions he hated were even more important to see through until the end and not stop until they were finished. Since his Lord had requested that he be the final trump card, he would. He started pacing again and moved closer to the wall.

Cracks had already formed in it from the fighting outside. Whatever was happening on the surface was far more dangerous than they had predicted, and... his fist slammed into the wall. Pieces of stone shot across the small room as his hand punched through it up to his shoulder. It hurt, but he ignored the pain... no. He wanted the pain. It made him feel something. Something that wasn't the sorrow building deep within him. Then he hit the wall again. And again. And again.

Soon, the wall gave way, and dirt spilled into the room. It didn't collapse, as the glyphs were still holding it together, but if he continued, they too would fail, and he would end up burying himself alive. On the other side of the room, a red light flickered, and he rushed toward it. He stopped beside the table and stared at the flickering light. The red one was for the communication artifact, while the blue one was the signal. He counted the flashes as he translated the message in his head.

The Emperor had been warned and had left the castle with his retinue. For the first time since he'd been stuck inside the room, he felt a flicker of... hope? The Emperor would be coming to help them, and the organization would be exposed once and for all. Afterward... no noble could keep looking the other way, and the whole Empire would be forced to act. The war effort would change, with greater support from the Emperor, every noble would have to send more men and mages, and the most important objective.

The hunt to eradicate the organization that had plagued the Empire would begin. What that meant, he wasn't sure. But it couldn't be worse than the current situation. It had been a long time since the Empire had stood united, and back then, no one could stand in its way. Especially not an organization built on bringing it down. Just as hope returned to his chest, three distinct auras spread across the estate. Every single one of them was at the archmage tier. His heart sank.

Nicholas closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Destroying the equipment that was supposed to signal him to act wasn't going to help with the helplessness eating away at him. He returned to pacing around the chair. He kept a close eye on the three archmages who had entered the estate and kept glancing toward the artifact on the small table beside it. Maybe... he should take a look. It wouldn't be too bad... would it? But... what if they were doing badly, and he charged out of the bunker?

It would only ruin the plan his young Lord had spent the last few months building.

"Fuck," he cursed loudly and brought his hand to his chest. He prayed inwardly to the Goddess. To give him the strength to endure his difficult mission, and to... grant his lords the strength to prevail against their enemies. That was everything he could do until he was called for, and it calmed him. Time passed, and the quakes throughout the estate continued. Wait for the call, he kept repeating in his mind. It would come at any moment. At least, that was what made sense.

There were too many archmage-tier threats above, far more than they should have been able to handle. Which meant they would call for him at any moment. The only thing he had to do was be ready when that moment came. He took out his halberd again and started going through his stances. He kept failing the first, the easiest stance. A stance he'd practiced thousands of times, and now he couldn't complete it even once. Still, he kept trying. Again and again. You could be reading stolen content.

Head to the original site for the genuine story. Then another thought surfaced. If the call was supposed to come at any moment, he needed to study the situation above and be ready to answer it the instant it came.

"Yeah," he muttered, walking toward the table as he returned the halberd to his inventory. Nicholas picked up the artifact from the table and poured his mana into it. His vision shifted, and he looked down upon the estate as though he were watching it from a bird's-eye view. The artifact was advanced, and with a thought, he could focus on any area of the estate and get a closer look. The first thing he noticed was his young Lord, who was facing an archmage-tier warrior. His heart sank, and he focused on him.

The view zoomed in on the fight. His Lord was... in a terrible state. His whole body was covered in wounds, and Vinny, one of the Count's strongest knights, was supporting him. A few meters away lay another knight—dead. The knight he'd trained since he was just a boy... his breathing grew irregular as he watched the fight. His heart sank with every passing moment. How was he supposed to watch and wait? He wanted to leave.

He almost rushed out of the bunker right then, but the voice in his head told him to follow his young Lord's plan. That was his duty, to follow his orders and wait for the signal. And so he did. He watched the fight. He watched his Lord get cut and beaten while he kept repeating the same words in his mind. Wait. It took him a minute before he let the artifact return to its bird's-eye view. He surveyed the estate and found the Count fighting two enemies alone.

He was still holding his own and had already deployed his Domain. After watching the battle for a few seconds, Nicholas was certain the Count would win. It would just take time. Time his young Lord didn't have. He searched the estate for Adolin, but he couldn't find him anywhere. Had the boy left? He wouldn't hold it against him even if he had. What his young Lord had done was something Nicholas couldn't approve of. He had forced the boy... to fight a battle that wasn't his. Even calling it a battle felt wrong.

Six archmage-tier enemies against two... and Eduard and the surviving knight. Nicholas focused back on the Count's fight. He didn't want to look at Eduard because he knew he wouldn't be able to bear it for long. He would abandon his mission and attack before they gave him the signal. Just as the image zoomed in, something... someone appeared beside the enemy archmage and grabbed his arm. A moment later, the archmage collapsed to the ground, and his head fell moments later. Adolin.

Nicholas took out his weapon, and his hand tightened around its hilt. He watched as Adolin and the Count fought the warrior, and in just a couple of seconds, they defeated him. Two archmage-tier threats had fallen just like that. In seconds... Maybe that's why the call hasn't come up yet, his young Lord and the Count had probably expected that, and were still keeping him as their trump card. He continued watching as the Count and the mage split. The Count went toward Eduard to help his son, while the mage…

went toward the three archmages. He wasn't sure what kind of strategy they were using, but he couldn't make sense of it. One against three didn't sound like something Adolin should be doing… No, he repeated in his mind. Everything they had done so far had been effective, so there was no reason for him to doubt it. From the seven archmage-level fighters that had invaded the estate, three were already dead. And… they haven't taken any casualties of the same level.

He kept trying to justify the strategy they were using, but no matter how he saw it, it was a bad one. I need to trust them. Nicholas nodded and took a deep breath. He'd always trusted his lords, and this wasn't the time to doubt them. He focused the artifact toward the boy and the three enemies he would be facing. They were a few moments from each other. That battle would be enough to reveal all the clues for Nicholas to see the bigger picture. At least he hoped.

Two of the enemies were mages, while one of them was a warrior who wielded a two-handed sword. The mages took to the air, while the warrior stayed on the ground. They would meet in the center of the main gardens, Nicholas guessed. It was far away from the mansion so that there wouldn't be any unnecessary casualties. Adolin opened up with dozens of spells. The artifact wasn't as good as his normal sight, but it still showed the spells that were cast.

The spells hit the mages, but both of them already had an active barrier, and they returned dozens of spells on their own. One of them used wind magic, while the other used… he couldn't tell. The spells were dark, and there was something green mixed within them. Both of the mages returned with basic attack magic; one used wind blades, while the other used mana constructs of spears and other types of constructs.

Adolin built mana constructs under his feet and used them as a platform to use a movement skill, and blinked all around the gardens… battlefield. He kept casting the same spell, while the barrier defended against it. The warrior tried on multiple occasions to catch him, but he never managed. As soon as he got close to Adolin, the boy was already gone from that location. Nicholas watched the battle with wide eyes; he just couldn't believe what exactly he was watching.

Not a single spell or attack had ever managed to touch the boy, while most of the spells he'd cast found their target. Still, the fighting style was… it looked like the boy was trying to buy time. He watched as the fight continued. No one made any progress. Was the boy waiting for the Count to return? Nicholas continued pacing around the chair while keeping his eyes glued to the battle. When was the signal going to come? Then the first spell struck Adolin, followed by two more. It didn't slow him down.

The boy continued fighting with the same speed and precision. A few moments later, Adolin started targeting the warrior and let even more of the mages' spells hit him. The battle continued at the same pace; the only difference was that he had switched targets and was focusing solely on the warrior. Nicholas was impressed as he watched the fight. It felt like he was watching a master fight his disciples. The only difference was that Adolin didn't possess the same level of power as the people he was facing.

Every movement was precise, every dodge made at the last possible moment. Every attack came only when he could strike his target multiple times. A few moments later, he shifted his focus to the Count and Eduard. Eduard was in an even worse situation than before, and the Count was fighting the enemy alone. The other knight lay on the ground, unmoving. Nicholas froze. He stared at the body, and his halberd appeared in his hand. His hands shook as he watched the Count fight the enemy.

He was going to win, but would it be in time to help the boy? Nicholas cursed as he stopped sending mana into the artifact and glanced toward the corner, where the artifact that was supposed to give him the signal lay. Nothing. The artifact would glow when the signal was given, yet there was nothing. Nothing. He poured his mana into the viewing artifact again and focused on Adolin. The boy was still fighting the same way, but... something was different. He just wasn't sure what.

It took him a few moments to notice it. The mana around the battlefield was behaving differently. Before he could figure out why... The boy raised his staff, and the air around the garden changed. The ground quaked.