Chapter 455 – Nearing Completion

“Matron, I bring disturbing news,” Mistress Mirax said, greeting Matron Jysella.

“The mana density levels are changing, indicating a labyrinth may soon be completed,” the elder Alfar female said, surprising her underling.

“Yes, Matron.”

“This is to be expected. The human you were sent to kill escaped.”

“That human was only B Rank. Humans grow too slowly to pose a real threat to the great plan.”

“And if that human was not the only True Mage on his world?”

Mistress Mirax did not have an answer for that. There were rumors and reports of human true mages all the time, but nearly all of them turned out to be dead ends. If there really were multiple human true mages on some other world, they had never seen definitive proof.

Still, labyrinths were not completed by chance. As a labyrinth’s floors were cleared, the stability of the labyrinth would solidify and that was what their instruments were detecting, the labyrinth pulling in more mana to fully stabilize itself. While the change in mana was easily detectable, and even understood, they had no idea which labyrinth was being stabilized, or even if it was being stabilized from their side or the foreign world’s side.

“Aside from the true mage I have encountered, which I believe is the same true mage, simply with the ability to alter his appearance, there have been no other definitive human true mage sightings.”

“How can you be sure there is only one human true mage?” Matron Jysella questioned.

“I have tasted his mana twice. The one I fought here is the same as the one I encountered in my plantation. I also believe it is the same human the Iblis discovered, after all, Visault was present when we battled.”

“I will concede you are most likely correct. But if you are, we have a different problem.”

“Matron, I don’t understand,” Mistress Mirax said while she tried to figure out what her Matron was implying.

“If there is only one human true mage then he is advancing quickly. The first documented Iblis encounter stated he was C Rank. Then you encountered him at low B Rank in the plantation and then in Iblis territory you reported the human had magic power of mid to upper B Rank. This indicates he is growing far faster than we anticipated. It is possible he is already A Rank.”

“Even at A Rank he would still no pose a threat to us.”

“You are thinking too small. Even if he is the only true mage on his world, that does not mean he is the only mage on his world.”

“The human is here, not on his world. What difference does it make if there are strong mages on his world? Unless the true mage is working with the Iblis to complete a labyrinth as a passageway back to his world.”

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“My spies have reported that the Iblis returned the human to his world.”

“How is that possible?” Mistress Mirax asked, perplexed by the development.

Sure, an SS Rank mage would have the mana required to open a Portal to a distant world, but the requirements to open a Portal to connect two places were that the caster had to have been to both places. No SS Ranked Iblis had left the Mother World, that much she was sure of. And if it was a weaker Iblis that had somehow ventured out as a youngling and returned, surely they would have a record of that. There were no records of any Iblis every venturing out, not even during the ancient times when humans branched out and formed colonies on other worlds.

“You reported the true mage had the Spatial affinity. The obvious answer is that he opened the Portal himself,” Matron Jysella said, seemingly not caring about how improbable such an occurrence was.

“There is no way a B Rank mage would have the mana to open a Portal so far.”

“Perhaps his world is closer than we thought. Or perhaps there is another explanation.”

“Essence transfer,” Mistress Mirax reasoned. “If the human began the process and was depleting his mana, then a higher Ranked Iblis could have transferred enough magic to him to complete the task. Which would weaken him but also raise the magic power of the mage. If that is the case, then we should hurry and find which commander weakened themselves. We may still be able to press the advantage.”

“Still so slow in your reasoning,” Matron Jysella sneered. “The human left months ago. The Iblis commander would have long since recovered. Not to mention the Iblis’ new means of tracking our troop movements.”

“Has there been no discovery of the method?”

“No, but the method seems startling similar to the method the world of Nerotath uses to track beasts and Realm Breaches. I think your true mage gave the Iblis a tactical advantage for helping him to return home.”

“The Iblis need a true mage if they want to attempt to venture into the ruins and undo the enchantment. Why would they let one go after finally finding one? It makes no sense.”

“Perhaps the human promised to return, with aid for the Iblis war effort.”

“The labyrinth!” Mistress Mirax suddenly realized.

“The indications are that it has not yet reached the midpoint but is quickly approaching it. There is every indication that whoever is working to complete the labyrinth will do so soon.”

“Should we divert forces to search for the labyrinth entrance on the Mother World? Or dispatch forces to the ruins to guard against their entry?”

“Doing either at this point is premature. Because of the Iblis’ new ability to track our forces, over the last few months we have been forced to scale back our farming teams and divert more of our people to the frontline. We cannot spare people from the frontline, nor can we divert more forces from the plantations.”

“Then how can we prepare for this new threat?”

“The same way we prepare for every threat, by training. If my suspicions are correct, and humans will soon be entering the war against us, we will need to increase the number of our high Rank mages. The Iblis have always been cautious on offense. As long as we maintain our current strategy of small raids, they will continue to counter our forces with their new means. The forces we do not dedicate to maintaining the illusion of troops we have on the offensive must go into training. If we cannot increase our numbers, we must increase our potency.”

“I understand, Matron.”

“Good. Pass my words to the other Mistresses of our lands. I will inform the other Matrons. Hopefully, they will agree that this is the best course of action.”

“And if they do not?” Mistress Mirax asked.

“Know your place, child,” Matron Jysella snapped. However, after a brief pause her tone softened. “If the other Matrons choose not to do as we do, then it is all the more important for us to raise the strength of our faction. Putting aside whether our speculation is correct or not, the Iblis clearly have a way to precisely counter our advances and avoid striking us where we are strong. The only way to overcome their advantage is with overwhelming force, since they know our numbers, this means raising our strength.”

“As you say, Matron.”