Chapter 446 – First Volunteer

Of all the things Damion had said in his request for aid, that labyrinths connecting to the Mother World caused the largest uproar. It took Mage Harris freezing everyone in place for a third time to regain order and by the time he did, Damion felt he had achieved his desired effect.

The S Rankers in this room needed to be shocked out of apathy and indecision. The longer they sat around and tried to come up with a perfect plan, the worse the situation on Nerotath and the Mother World would become. Even if they agreed today, there was no telling how long it would take to actually clear all the floors of the labyrinth and reach the Mother World. In fact, they were still not even sure if the SS Rank floor they had discovered was the midpoint.

There was the distinct possibility that some of the S Rankers would decide to try and clear enough floors of one of the other labyrinths to reach the Mother World, but Damion was not worried. The Avalon labyrinth had more low-level floors than the other labyrinths did, this meant its midpoint would be of a lower level. Even if the other labyrinths could get to an SS Rank floor, there was no doubt in Damion’s mind that they would be forced to clear multiple of them and the difficulty of those floors would surely be too great for them to overcome quickly.

Once the S Rankers began reaching SS Rank, that would change, but how long would that take? Damion was betting on the fact that none of the S Rank mages wanted to be left behind, which meant heading into the SS Rank floor that was already available. Once they were SS Rank themselves, going back to their own labyrinths and clearing additional floors to reach the SS Rank floors there would be much easier.

"The Iblis have shown me information on labyrinths that have been completed before, and they have even used the knowledge of how many floors a labyrinth has to determine how far a world is from the Mother World and thus calculate how much mana is required to open a Portal directly to said world.”

“You are saying that travel to the Mother World directly may be possible in the future through Portals, as well as through labyrinths?” the S Rank Stone mage Gregory Forlani asked.

“Possibly,” Damion hedged. “Right now, the amount of mana to open a Portal may very well be too much for any Spatial mage to handle.”

“Then how did they open one for you?”

“With mana potions and multiple mages channeling the mana required. I’m not entirely sure what the Iblis did, but it was draining. Which tells me the distance might be too great, even for Mage Fletcher. But that is a question to be answered after we have established the distance by completing the labyrinth.”

“Do you believe completing the labyrinth is possible?” Mage Harris asked. It was a fair question. No one knew how many floors the labyrinth really had, if they could not clear the midpoint, then they may never find out.

“If we work together, yes, I believe we can,” Damion answered.

“This, then, is your price for admission into the Avalon labyrinth. Aid in reaching the Mother World?” Mage Harris said, cutting to the heart of the matter.

“Yes. If as many S Ranks as possible can delve into the Avalon labyrinth and we can clear the SS Rank floors to reach the midpoint, then the strength of the floors should begin weakening. According to the Iblis, the strongest floor of a labyrinth is always the middle floor, the pocket of space situated between the Mother World and the other end of the labyrinth. If we clear the midpoint, then each floor after that will become easier.”

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“And you think this SS Rank floor is the midpoint?” Mage Forlani asked.

“I don’t know. But I do know, it will be easier to clear the floors of the Avalon labyrinth to reach the midpoint than any other labyrinth.”

“Because your labyrinth has more low-level floors than the others,” Mage Harris reasoned aloud. He was sure most of the other S Rankers had thought the same, but he wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page. “How many S Rank mages do you believe should go to the Mother World, to aid you in the reversal of the ancient enchantment?”

“I want to say all,” Damion started, but he knew there was no way all of them could go. “However, I understand that is not realistic. Some S Rank mages must remain. We cannot leave our homes open to beast waves, but with the auto-mappers, the ability to detect and coordinate defenses is much stronger now. I believe this Assembly can decide for itself how best to assign who goes and who stays. I would only ask that we not limit the force to S Ranks. There are plenty of A Rank mages who would be of great use and even more who would benefit by the S Rank and SS Rank floors of the Avalon labyrinth. Perhaps a few might even be able to achieve that next step during the journey.”

This time Damion’s words caused stunned shock. The idea that A Rank mages might be given the opportunity to train and even reach the next Rank inside the Avalon labyrinth had not occurred to them. There were hundreds of A Rank mages that rarely got the opportunity to enter any of the labyrinths and fewer still that were able to enter Silver Spire Mage Academy’s S Rank dungeon. If Damion opened up the Avalon labyrinth to them, there would be a whole new wave of mages wanting to go to Atlantis and quite possibly dozens of new S Rank mages appearing that were loyal to him.

Damion’s opponents in the Assembly wanted to object, but they could not. All they had the power to do was limit their own family members from going. However, that was the last thing they wanted. If they limited their own family from going then they would be missing out on a prime opportunity to advance.

“Assuming you are able to open the way to the Mother World,” Mage Harris began, “What are the chances of actually succeeding in this endeavor?”

“I can’t begin to guess at our chances. I know there are a large number of Demonic Beasts and dungeon breaks we will have to contend with. But it is impossible to assign a number to our chance of success. The only promise I can make, is that if we do not attempt this, at some point, our world will collapse.”

“I am inclined to believe in your theory and in what you learned from the Iblis,” Mage Harris said, causing one faction of the Assembly to sigh in relief while the other seethed in anger. “However, I am not one to force people to separate themselves from their families. To that end, I ask for volunteers. Both from the S Rank Assembly and from the members of the A Rank community. S Rankers, please confer with your families and ensure that your protection duties are covered before committing anything. If anyone has conflicts, I will mediate them. Are there any objections to passing this as a resolution to aid Atlantis in clearing the Avalon labyrinth?”

No one spoke up. Which Mage Harris took as acceptance of the resolution and continued on.

"The resolution has so passed. Mage Wells, please post a mission for the Adventurer Association and the Mage Association outlining the requirements and expectations of your expedition into the Avalon labyrinth and the Mother World. However, classify the mission for A Rank eyes only. There is no need to worry the general population over this matter.”

“I understand,” Damion said. While he disliked secrets, especially ones that affected everyone, he understood Mage Harris’ position. There was nothing the average person could do given the situation, so why worry them. Even if this attempt failed to resolve the situation, it might still be hundreds or even thousands of years before the ambient mana level became a problem. By then it was possible another attempt at deactivating the enchantment would be successful, or even another solution found.

“Good. In that case. I would like to be the first to volunteer to join your expedition to the Mother World.”