Brigante Ark - Chapter 185

The end is nearing, and they’re 3 steps behind. Alastor had kept the end of his bargain and now, Noora has to show hers.

Dimiscus was chained and locked in her underground chamber. And he’s not happy with the rotting cell he’s in.

All the while, Noora is planning to take Alastor to some part of the city. They came across a quiet road from the tavern and turned right. A rusty arching gate loomed ahead of them. Roots and vines creep from the ground and to the railings of the gate. Noora pushed the gate and a loud groaned temporarily embedded in the air for Alastor to cringed.

“What are we doing here exactly?” Alastor asked.

“You said you wanted to go home, right?”

“Yeah, well, I could get used asleep. Also, I feel a bit peckish.”

“You… peckish? You’re a mercenary, I thought you were trained to withstand tormenting situations. Surely an hour or two won’t hurt.”

“You can be such a hassle, you know.”

She smirked.

It was a long walk. The path they have followed was lined with tombstones. Alastor understood most of the names that were based on foreign languages from the otherworld, but some were written in unknown languages.

“This place,” he stated, “You’ve been here before?”

“No. But I did some mapping in the area using a scout eagle.”

“A scout eagle?”

“I ordered it to flew high enough so that they wouldn’t detect its presence.”

“Hmm. Then why did you take me here? I’m assuming not for sightseeing, much less historical learning.”

Noora chuckled. “You’re looking for a way home right? The answer is here.”

The two of them stopped in front of a mausoleum. Alastor was about to step in, but Noora immediately pulled him back.

“Wait. As much as I want to agree to proceed without worries, I’m afraid that the undead bastard places a trap spell on this door. Might even include the very floor inside.” Noora said.

She steps forward, conjuring letters and symbols. Then, a crystal ball appeared, flew, and phases through the door. Red energy was absorbed along the way and it shoot out to the sky.

“What did you just do?”

“All spell rooted for mana, and mana itself is energy. All I did is absorbed it and threw it outside.”

“Is that even possible? That sounds like impossible.”

“Well, it’s a high-tier spell that can revoke spells of the opponents.”

“But that’s not easy, is it?”

“No. It uses a lot of mana.”

“It has unnecessary drawbacks. So much for my interest in it.”

Noora silently step inside and pushed the door. Cobwebs and various artifacts linger on the altar and some hang on the wall.

“Is the person who lies in here part of a cult?” Alastor jestingly asked.

“I’m not sure.” She responded.

Noora and Alastor began to observe every nooks and corner of the mausoleum, unsure what he was looking for, particularly questioning the place.

“Really, Noora, what are we looking by the way?”

She walked, almost floating due to her white dress, and to the slab, she touched and gently pushed it.

Alastor heard a loud groan below the floor. He moved backward seeing how the casket moved on its own, unraveling a stair that leads down.

“It’s not particularly creepy at all,” Alastor commented.

Noora ignored his remarks and went in first. He hesitantly followed her.

Down the tight hallways of the chamber, Alastor sticks closer to her. The door above let out a grunt as it slowly close until there is no light to guide with. Noora raised her palm, conjuring light magic. Prism of light appeared on her palm as she let it float by itself, trailing with them.

At some part of the chamber, they were greeted by a disgusting smell from what seemed to be a jail. It was covered by a thick metal door, almost impossible to cut through using his sword.

“Ignore it. Dimiscus use this underground chamber for his experiments, so it is in our best interest to focus on one task at hand.” Noora said, almost eerily because of the echoing sound reverberating across the chamber. “This tunnel should be able to lead us to our objective.”

“And that would be?”

“A portal.”

Alastor widened his eyes in his surprise. They took a sharp turn leading down and at the end of the road is a huge metallic black door. Noora did it again, the same thing she did at the entrance. The crystalline ball absorbed all the red energy and shoot out and they heard a loud explosion for the briefest of moments.

“That’s convenient.” Is all Alastor can say.

The door opened creakily, unhinged by the spell of Noora. It was as she expecting of, the circular rock plastered on the ground with a hole in it, but that wasn’t the only thing that catches their attention. Symbols and letters, hang on the walls and some images of warriors appeared on them.

“What the hell.” He made his words as silent as possible, but his eyes otherwise remain unkempt and continued to move towards the writings.

Releasing a gasp, Noora pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Ow.” Alastor pulled her hand away.

“This is it.” Noora announced, “But there is something different about this portal.”

“What do you mean?” Alastor queried.

“I can’t assume yet. Must investigate further. I will set a vantage point here so that the next we can easily teleport here.”

“You sure know your scripture, huh.”

“Perks of hundreds of years studying and locking myself in the library.”

“Wow.” Alastor mouthed.

When Noora had finished drawing a sign, she lit it in a single flick. She instructed Alastor to step inside. He was reluctant but as soon as he felt that there was no heat in it, he didn’t hesitate anymore.

“Get some rest. I’ll stay behind and gather some data about Dimiscus’s manuscripts. There’s a lot to dig in here.”

Alastor sighed. “Be quick and be careful.”

The blue fire began to creep on him, and soon, he was vanished out of her sight.

Noora turned around to observe the portal.

“Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?”

It may not be able to see by the normal means, but in her eyes, she can see the mana of light and dark swelling, but instead, in conflict, they rode the same river in harmony.

“On what heavens is this possible?” Noora muttered as she touched a part of it.

For 2 days, Noora was busy studying the portal. Alastor heard along her studying some words ‘unknown locations’ and ‘less predictable altitude’ which makes it seems sounds like bad news.

Noora called him at the balcony of her castle at 3 pm in the afternoon. It wasn’t nice for him, he had a nice nap.

“Can you tell me what it feels like when you teleported here?” she asked.

It won’t hurt if she asked how’s he doing, but that won’t be necessary as they both knew that the castle she owned is secure and given that Dimiscus is sealed in an underground chamber. He thought.

“You’ve been busy for two days. It won’t hurt for you to take a shower, you know.”

Inflicted by concerned thought, Noora smelled herself, almost awkwardly.

“Well, it’s not a park that I’ve been, so…” she sardonically smiled.

“When I was sucked into that portal, it felt like I lost the sense of time, and I… I don’t feel my senses… and there was nothing. I woke up near the river…”

She added, “… and got attacked by an amphibian monster.”

“Yeah.”