Chapter 54: The Accidental Interruption and the Hunt for Escape

“So, you’re telling me you managed to infiltrate this city without being discovered?” Sally couldn’t help but ask.

“We weren’t directly seen, I believe,” Amos replied, reflecting on their past movements.

“However, we did eliminate a Troglodyte by the pit, and if its body is found, it will undoubtedly raise alarms. I doubt they know whether or not we were transported along with it.”

“How long have you been here?”

I inquired, a hint of confusion in my voice, for his familiarity with the surroundings suggested he had been here for more than just a day or two.

“About a week, perhaps a little more,” Amos replied with a sigh of resignation. “After arriving here and conducting various investigations, we discovered this city is known to the locals as Val City.”

He continued, his tone laced with helplessness.

“Initially, we sought an opportunity to approach the cavern and discover a way back. Yet, that location was never again subjected to spatial exchange, and the demonic beasts within the pit dwindled considerably. We had presumed they had abandoned the teleportation until we found you…”

“Indeed,” I affirmed, nodding my head with a touch of melancholy. “It seems you were suspected of infiltration, but they haven’t given up; they’ve merely shifted their location, otherwise, we wouldn’t have ended up here.”

“Have you also made contact with the local dark creatures?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, these demonic beings are typically sensitive only to light and dark elements,” Blanche explained, “and since we generally don’t possess any light-elemental aura, a simple disguise is usually enough to avoid detection.”

Blanche generously shared the insights she had gleaned from navigating the city. ‘I subtly pursed my lips, acknowledging that such wisdom was, for an angel like myself, virtually useless.’

“If not for your arrival, I truly believed I’d be stuck here forever, never to return,” Erica interjected suddenly. Though her words spoke of ‘us,’ her gaze, full of fervent hope, was fixed solely on me. It seemed she harbored immense expectations, believing I would be the one to rescue everyone and lead us to freedom.

But how could that be? Even with our presence, we were merely two more victims. The thought of potentially becoming a burden filled me with mortifying dread.

“Let’s summarize our findings now,” Alfred announced suddenly, causing everyone to immediately cease their chattering discussions and quietly turn their attention to his analysis.

“Based on our experiences and the accounts Flora and her companions have provided, we can infer that the enemy likely possesses a spatial magic device capable of two-way positioning. Its purpose is to exchange space between the Dark Continent and the Asante Kingdom, thereby facilitating the teleportation of demonic beast forces. This device must come in a pair, with one on each side, and the primary control unit is likely situated here on the Dark Continent.”

“The device on the Kingdom’s side should be relatively small, portable by a demonic beast, and primarily used for positioning. The device here, however, remains uncertain; given its control functions, it’s likely larger, though it, too, can probably be moved.”

“It appears the device on the Kingdom’s side has now moved to Tedles Town, but there’s a peculiar anomaly…” Alfred trailed off, lowering his head and furrowing his brows in perplexity, as if grappling with an inexplicable detail.

“Previously, in the Kingdom, demonic beasts would typically appear in one location and then immediately move to the next, never lingering for more than a day. This constant movement made them incredibly difficult to track and eliminate. Yet, calculating the time from when the Church received the report to when Flora and her group departed Tedles Town, several days elapsed, during which the exchange occurred at least twice in the same spot. Could the demonic beast carrying the device have simply stopped there?”

“No, it might be dead,” I interjected, a crucial piece of information suddenly surfacing in my mind. When I had recounted our experiences previously, I hadn’t understood its significance and therefore believed it unrelated to our transfer here. Now, however, its relevance seemed profound.

“Are you referring to the incident where Kane killed the demonic beast?” Sally asked, her eyes widening in recognition as she too grasped the implication.

“Most likely! The demonic beast he slew was probably carrying the spatial positioning device.”

‘I gritted my teeth, inwardly cursing that uncouth mountain villager of my same rank for his ‘good deed’!’

That demonic beast, after countless trials and evading legions of pursuers, had finally managed to reach the vicinity of Tedles Town, only to coincidentally be dispatched by Kane.

Consequently, the device remained in the area, leading to Tedles Town being transferred when the Dark Continent initiated its spatial exchange.

Had he not eliminated that demonic beast, it would have likely stayed in town for a maximum of one day before departing, and we would not have been implicated and brought to this place upon our arrival.

“But how could a demonic beast carrying such a crucial positioning device be taken down by a mere third-tier villager?” Hayden questioned, bewildered. “Surely, creatures entrusted with such vital functions would be considerably more powerful, wouldn’t they?”

His confusion was evident.

“It’s difficult to say in such circumstances,” Amos mused.

After a moment’s thought, he replied, his extensive experience quickly allowing him to discern the critical points of the situation.

“After all, it was likely injured from numerous prior encirclements, and traversing hundreds of kilometers of mountainous terrain within just a few days would have depleted its stamina considerably. There’s no way to ascertain how much of its strength it could have retained, so it’s entirely plausible that it was simply unlucky and fell victim to an opportunistic kill.”

“Then why wouldn’t they swap carriers?” I posed another question. If it was a spatial exchange, shouldn’t they be able to switch out the carrier? If the demonic beast carrying the device on the Kingdom’s side was injured and couldn’t continue, they could simply replace it immediately upon exchange.

“That likely has something to do with us being exchanged to this side,” Amos stated, a realization dawning on him after my question prompted a period of contemplation.

“After we were inadvertently transported here, their vigilance increased, and they ceased all spatial exchanges near the deep pit. Furthermore, relocating the device outside the city must have taken several days. If you calculate the time from the first appearance of dark contamination in Tedles Town, it aligns perfectly with the time it would take that demonic beast to travel from Xinebu Valley to Tedles Town.”

“This is just incredibly bad luck!” Erica couldn’t help but exclaim, hearing the explanation.

“……”

A profound silence descended upon everyone.

For a moment, words failed them all. No one knew what to say; to think that the Kingdom army’s most sought-after target could have died so bewilderingly, so silently, with its killer utterly oblivious, struck them as strangely comical.

“But why would they travel so conspicuously southward?” Sally asked, still puzzled. “And what was their objective?”

“Carrying such a vital device, they should have maintained absolute secrecy regarding their movements. Instead, they boldly and relentlessly sent demonic beasts to their deaths via teleportation.”

“Could there be some conspiracy? Have we, in fact, walked straight into a trap?” Amos and the others were stumped, unable to fathom a plausible explanation for quite some time. It was undeniably a strange and perplexing matter.

“Let’s not dwell on it if we can’t figure it out for now,” Alfred interjected, breaking the impasse. His practical outlook shifted everyone’s attention back to their immediate predicament. “After all, that’s a problem for the Kingdom to worry about. Our most pressing concern right now is our own situation.”

“So, only one question remains: where exactly has the exchange point on this side been relocated?”

He directly posed the question everyone was most eager to answer.

“If we can find that location and enter the exchange radius, we’ll be able to return to the Asante Kingdom during the next exchange.”

“From Flora’s description, it seems to have been moved outside the city, but the area beyond the city walls is so vast, it will be incredibly difficult to locate…”

Blanche’s expression clearly conveyed her distress.

“However, we can roughly deduce that it’s south of Val City, and likely not too far,” Amos mused, his head bowed in thought. He swiftly began to piece together clues from the jumble of information.

“The approximate range can be calculated from the travel times of Flora and her companions’ southward journey and their return northward.”

“The main issue is that we were transferred here at night and flew above the clouds. If only we had been able to see the ground then,” Sally lamented, a look of profound regret on her face.

“I do have a suspicious location in mind,” I offered. I had, in fact, inadvertently noticed something about this very spot earlier and kept it in the back of my mind.

“It was on our way to this city; I saw a contingent heading towards a place that resembled a volcano…”

I elaborated on this experience in detail, and, as expected, everyone agreed that the isolated mountain was highly suspicious.

“But isn’t it a bit premature to conclude that’s the teleportation point based solely on the direction a demonic beast unit was heading?” Erica voiced her opinion with caution.

“What if they were merely passing through? And don’t you think the scope of an entire mountain is rather extensive?”

“Nonetheless, that mountain undeniably appears to be the most suspicious location right now,” Alfred asserted, shaking his head. He deemed it worth investigating and also affirmed Amos’s method of deduction.

“Moreover, the range might be adjustable. Even if we ultimately pinpoint the wrong location, we can still find clues from Flora and her companions’ flight path. This is infinitely better than doing nothing and merely waiting for death within the city walls.”

“Very well, the target has been identified.”

Having reached this point, he, as their leader, decisively clapped his hands and finalized the plan.

“It’s certainly impossible to reach that mountain today; we’ll have to plan for tomorrow. However, the city gates will be closed during the day, as daytime in this city is akin to nighttime in our human cities. Therefore, we must find a way to leave the city tonight.”

“Perhaps I could fly you out…” I suggested, a convenient method suddenly occurring to me, given that Sally and I had entered the city in precisely that manner. Yet, as I glanced at the number of people in the room—six full-grown individuals besides myself—a sense of difficulty began to creep in.

“Can you carry two people at once?” Alfred’s eyes lit up, but then, observing my physique, he frowned.

“That… might be a bit challenging…”

‘Though I yearned to add that it had nothing to do with my build, as the strength I possessed with my wings unfurled would easily allow me to lift two people, flight wasn’t simply a matter of brute strength; it depended on the lift generated by my wings.’

‘Even with just Sally, a small girl, I had felt significant resistance while flying. While it wasn’t my absolute limit, there were three men here who were certainly much heavier than Sally; I doubted I could even manage Alfred alone.’

“But transporting everyone one by one would require six trips, which would not only be time-consuming but also far too dangerous, making exposure highly likely.”

After some consideration, Alfred decided to stick to the original plan: attempt to sneak out through the city gates.

“In that case, go and rest for a while,” Alfred commanded once the decision was made. “We’ll be moving tonight, and you’ll need to be fully energized.”

However, instead of dispersing, everyone crowded around me once more, chattering with questions.