Chapter 292 - Whatever does she feed them!?
Gaspar’s eyes widened as he stared at the sight before him. He had witnessed countless arcane occurrences throughout his life and was intimately familiar with most all contemporary barriers and defensive spells. There were few that the Rising Isle’s wizards did not have in their vast repertoire. Unless it was one of the Zuverians’ forgotten magics, he hadn’t thought anything could surprise him anymore.
Yet what he saw now made him question his own eyes. A vortex of dark energy shimmered in the air, completely enveloping him and his fellow wizards in a dome of churning shadows. Streaks of ominous violet light pulsed through it, occasionally veined with crimson. The space inside the barrier was unnervingly still, a stark contrast to the chaos just moments before, when they had been bombarded by a barrage of offensive spells that might unnerve even an arch wizard.
In the oppressive silence, Gaspar thought he could discern a faint, haunting melody, its notes threading eerily through their surroundings.
He tried to trace the flow of mana composing the barrier, but the strands were elusive, shifting and weaving in almost nonsensical patterns. At times, they even seemed to vanish entirely, as though this wasn’t purely a magical construct.
Gaspar turned to Grand Wizard Clemmons. She had been the one to erect the barrier in haste to shield them from the robed echo’s attacks. But from the bewildered look on her face, it was clear that even she didn’t fully understand what had become of her own spell.
His gaze shifted to Shin, whose frown deepened as he studied the barrier. The youth appeared to be the only one not entirely caught off guard by this turn of events.
Turning forward again, Gaspar looked at the section of the barrier obstructing their view of the other members of Baroness Hartford’s party. Given the ferocity of the spells hurled at their group, it was doubtful that Clemmons’ hastily cast shield could have held. Someone else had intervened — someone who recognised the gravity of the situation and acted decisively. For that, Gaspar was grateful, though the nature of this intervention was deeply unsettling.
What exactly had the Baroness been hiding from them?
The barrier’s precise origin was unclear, but the traces of demonic influence were unmistakable. How it had so effortlessly superseded a spell cast by a grand wizard defied most explanations, as did the principles governing it. Its very presence felt almost designed to mock his understanding of the arcane.
It reminded him far too much of the infamously capricious and unpredictable existences that were bardic charms.
Seconds passed, tension hanging thick over their group, until at last the dark vortex protecting them began to fade. In its place, the translucent spell Clemmons had originally intended remained, offering a clear view of the corridor. With the change, sound seeped back in, and the haunting melody Gaspar thought he had heard grew much more recognisable.
At the far end of the corridor, Fynn was locked in a fierce battle with the robed echo. A tempest of swirling energies surrounded his form as he unleashed an onslaught of powerful blows. Ethereal claws of raw magic extended from his fists, tearing into the echo’s defences with prodigious force. The very air crackled with power as each strike sent shockwaves reverberating through the corridor, and wards that had withstood Gaspar’s spells shattered and regenerated in rapid succession.