chapter 183

I whispered as we walked away from the water dragon palace.

I was being careful so that Serulis could not hear.

“Goran. I’m surprised you gave Serulis your permission.”

“…Would you have preferred it if I hadn’t?”

“Not at all. I think she is very good with the sword. But aren’t you worried about her? As a parent?”

“Of course, I am. But it’s not possible to go on Adventurers only after you’re a seasoned Adventurer.”

“Well, that’s true.”

You could gain experience through repeatedly hunting goblins and demon rats.

But hunting vampires was an entirely different matter.

No amount of goblin or rat hunting would prepare you for fighting vampires.

“Please look after her when you can…”

“I’ll do my best.”

“Thank you.”

And then I addressed Shia.

“Shia. I didn’t know that you and the beastkin tribes used communication bracelets too.”

I was sure that they hadn’t previously.

During the battle with the High Lord, they had used messengers.

“His Majesty gave them to us.”

“Aye. It was necessary, so I gave them about twenty of them.”

Eric had been doing a lot behind the scenes.

And so we left the palace and headed for the barrier and gate.

Dorgo was waiting for us in the form of a huge dragon.

Aside from Dorgo, I would be accompanied by Eric, Goran, Shia, Serulis, and Grulf.

Nia watched us as we all got on Dorgo’s back.

“Good luck!”

“Please be careful!”

“Leave the rest to me.”

Leea and Kathe were in their dragon forms.

That meant they were prepared to fight.

“I will take off then.”

“Thank you.”

And with us on his back, Dorgo lept up into the sky from the gate. He moved at an incredible speed.

Shia and Serulis grimaced. Grulf was crushed up beside me.

In no time, we arrived at the place that the beastkin wolves suspected the main base was.

As we looked down from the sky, Dorgo said,

“Indeed. I do sense the presence of magic.”

“It must be concealment magic. Just as the reports suggested.”

“This is where I would like to hit them with my breath…”

“Hmm. But there appear to be defense barriers as well. I don’t think even your breath will do much damage to it.”

“In that case, maybe we should go down there and hit it with more physical attacks?”

Goran suggested.

That seemed the surest way. But it would also take longer and defeat the purpose of our ambush.

Besides, they might also have prepared for such an attack as well.

“Leave it to me.”

“If you say so, Locke.”

“Thank you, Eric. Shia, are there any beastkin nearby?”

“Let me check.”

“If there are any, tell them to move out of the area immediately. I’m going to use some great magic.”

“I understand.”

Shia contacted the chiefs through her bracelet.

“Everything is fine. They are all watching from quite a distance now.”

“That’s good.”

Serulis looked puzzled.

“But didn’t you say that they have strong defense barriers? Even your power shouldn’t be…”

“Indeed. Hitting it with magic attacks won’t do a whole lot…”

I turned to Dorgo.

“Would you mind circling the area?”

“Understood.”

He slowly circled the place from above.

And I searched for the giant barrier and the important areas.

It was cleverly hidden, but I was able to get a good idea of where it was.

“There are twelve cores that make up the barrier. It’s a dangerous type that requires that you destroy all of them within a short period, or it will restore itself.”

The barrier was big. It would take an hour to walk around it.

But Dorgo could fly around the area quickly. But it would still take time if we had to stop to break each one.

When I explained this to him, Dorgo looked troubled and said,

“What should we do? Perhaps we must give up trying to break the whole barrier. I suppose we will just have to land and force our way in?”

“No, let’s leave it to Locke. Locke, we’re counting on you.”

“There are no people around here. Locke. Just unleash your power.”

Eric and Goran had no doubts about my ability to destroy the barrier.

“It’s not that easy.”

“So you can’t do it?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“I see. Of course.”

Eric looked happy for some reason.

But if he expected me to be able to do it, I couldn’t disappoint him.

“Alright…”

And so I unleashed my magic. Meteor Strike.

Twelve of them at the same time. I created gigantic magic circles above all twelve of the cores and called the meteors. And the meteors moved at an incredible speed the moment they appeared.

The air below the meteors was compressed and red hot.

The cores surrounding the barrier were set apart evenly.

And so I needed to activate the magic to summon multiple meteors that were very far apart at the same time.

It was incredibly difficult, but I did my best.

“What!”

Dorgo cried out in surprise.

In a way, these meteors that I summoned were just giant boulders that were very hot. However, these kinds of attacks were hard to defend against. The barriers were mainly focused on magic defense.

And I used gravity magic to make the boulders fall faster.

—GGGGGAAAAAAA

And like that, the meteors crashed to the ground, sending tremendous shockwaves all over the area.

We could even feel them up high in the air.

“The barrier has been destroyed.”

“…Th-that was astounding.”

Dorgo said under his breath.