Chapter 410 – Hello There
The search for civilization was considerably easier once Damion knew the direction in which he needed to go. Thankfully, Straus had not lied the second time. After half a day of flight at top speed, Damion was able to spot a sprawling metropolis that put Nerotath’s White Zone cities to shame.
On the horizon, as far as he could see, was a massive city. Damion was not sure if it was because the Iblis were larger physically than humans that the city was so large, or if this was just how large they built their cities.
As he flew closer and the features of the city became more distinct, Damion could see individual spires and mega structures. Even large swaths of farmland and areas that appeared to be parks, with lakes and trees covering large areas. He was still at a distance of dozens of kilometers, yet the structures appeared massive and there were hundreds of buildings shooting high into the sky.
Another aspect of the city that impressed Damion was the wall, if you could call it a wall. At first he indeed thought the city was surrounded by a giant wall, but what he discovered as he approached was that the entire city was built on a giant plateau. As he flew higher into the sky to get a better view, he could see the ‘walls’ were actually cliff faces that had been built onto. He could not tell how large the plateau was, if it ended somewhere and the city was simply built up to maintain the height, or if the entire city was built on top of a massive plateau as an ancient security measure and expanded until it overtook the entire feature.
Damion paused in the air a dozen kilometers from the edge of the city. He took out his tablet and looked at the map created by his auto-mapper. Even with the 50-kilometer range of his auto-mapper, the device could not reach the other end of the city. How many people would live in such a place? Was this why there were no smaller cities or towns around, everyone was packed into this metropolis?
Now Damion had a problem. His goal had been to find the Iblis. Find out what they wanted from him and see if they could help him with his System quest or perhaps help him find a way back to Nerotath. The first step was done, he had found the Iblis city, but how was he going to find the right person to talk to?
Straus had said they were interested in the true mage that had exiled him, but Damion had no idea how to find this Visneer. Could he just go up to some random Iblis in the streets and ask for Visneer in Tal? Did all the Iblis speak Tal? Or was it perhaps just a few, or maybe only the one who he had encountered in the Unstable Breach. Was that Iblis Visneer?
While Damion was contemplating how to find the right person, he realized that despite floating in the air near the city, no one was coming out to question him. Sure, he was in the air, but someone should have noticed a floating person in the sky. He suddenly realized he had Concealed Aura active. The passive spell had reached A Rank, which made it so that only those above A Rank could detect his magical presence. Perhaps whatever detection or security for the city was unable to pierce his spell. If that was the case, then Damion could simply shut the spell off and speak with whomever came out to address the threat.
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‘System, deactivate Concealed Aura.’
{Affirmative.}
To Damion nothing changed. The 5 mana per second cost to keep the passive spell active was nothing to him. However, inside the city that was not the case. The sudden appearance of a non-Iblis that was near A Rank so close to the city began setting off numerous alarms.
Damion considered flying closer, to make sure it was not that he was just too far from the city, but then he began hearing a klaxon alarm coming from the city and soon enough, he could see three large vehicles lifting off from the ground and began flying towards him.
As the flying vehicles approached, Damion realized they were not just transports bringing out a security patrol. The three flying vehicles were similar in many ways to warships from Earth. The bottom hulls were rounded, with stabilizing skids that retracted into the hull after they lifted off, and Damion thought the flying ships could very well be able to float as well. Each of the ships had a pyramid-like structure in the middle, rising up from the deck, likely the command center, by Damion’s reconning. The decks of the ships actually hung over the edge of the hull all the way around the ships. On the overhang of the deck, topside and underside, were mounted magic cannons that looked quite similar to the ones that protected cities on Nerotath.
The ships quickly closed the distance to where Damion hovered and surrounded him, keeping a distance of about a kilometer around him. It should not have been difficult to identify him as a human and not a Demonic Beast but, aside from the city’s alarm shutting off, nothing was happening. Were they seeking orders from a higher authority? Did these Iblis perhaps not know what a human was?
Damion was at a loss at what to do. Should he say something? It certainly seemed the smart thing to do, before these people decided it would be better off if he was blasted out of the sky.
“Hello there,” Damion shouted in Tal. “One of you wouldn’t happen to be able to direct me to Visneer, would you?”
Nothing happened for a long moment, and then Damion decided to repeat his question in Otash. Straus had said the Iblis he had interacted with had learned Nerotath’s common tongue, perhaps one of those people would be on the ships.
Still, nothing happened. Either no one understood him, or they were debating the merits of their options. Those options, as far as Damion could tell, were to blast him or blast him. After all, why else would you surround a single person with three warships.
“If no one knows who Visneer is, then perhaps I’ve come to the wrong place,” Damion shouted in Tal. “I was told he wanted to speak with me. Is there perhaps another Iblis city around?”
Damion still received no reply from inside the ship, so he thought perhaps he should try a different approach. From the Magic System Inventory, Damion took out the spatial artifact ring the Iblis had given him in the Unstable Breach. He thought there was a chance that the ring might be recognized. It was a long shot, but it was better than sitting in place waiting to be shot.
As soon as Damion took out the ring and slipped it on his finger he got a reaction, but not one he was expecting. Slowly, all three of the flying warships turned and headed back towards the city. This left Damion quite confused as they left without a word.
While he watched them fly away, Damion saw from inside the city a person flying towards him. He just hoped that this person would have the answers he was looking for.