Chapter 70: Into the City of Mageford
The next morning, Dion, Gina, Luna, Aria, Cleo, Sheila, and Mei could see the city of Mageford from within the forest, a city perched on a cliff surrounded by a deep, encircling ravine. Numerous magic towers with sparking lightning atop their pointed roofs were visible beyond the outer walls, along with a soaring building that housed a massive library and a towering crystal structure that looked like a palace where mages gathered for magic research while mining magic crystals underneath, lending the city a majestic and mystical atmosphere.
However, today something was off. The city gates, which were usually open, were completely shut, prompting Dion to stop in his tracks before stepping out of the forest. Furthermore, city guards packed the fortress walls as if the city were on high alert.
"Looks like we can’t get inside," Aria noted.
"Yeah... most likely they’ve heard about what happened in the capital and locked the city down. Just look at how tight that security is," Mei said.
"But we have to get in. Below the city is the magic crystal mine, and that’s definitely where the slaves are being kept," Luna replied.
"Exactly. Should we just force our way through? Use Gina?" Sheila asked.
"Kyuuu?" Gina turned to Sheila with a look that clearly said, "don’t bring me into this."
"No... doing that will only make them even more alert, and we won’t be able to move freely," Cleo advised.
"Hmm... fair point. It’ll just make things a mess. Sorry, bad suggestion," Sheila admitted.
"Not everything can be solved with muscle," Mei jabbed.
"Shut up," Sheila snapped back.
"Actually, we could make it work using this," Aria said, pulling a item teleportation scroll from her dimensional storage.
"No way... last time we just got lucky that we made it and succeeded. I don’t want to repeat that again. Right, Dion?" Sheila crossed her arms in an X shape over her chest in refusal.
Luna, Mei, Aria, Sheila, and Cleo turned to look at Dion, who appeared lost in thought with a solemn expression on his face.
"Man... I only have two emergency bunkers left... this is bad... I guess I’ll have to build more," Dion muttered, looking at the dimensional pouch on his hip.
"Haah... is that seriously what you’re thinking about?" Aria asked, annoyed.
"Seriously... we’re trying to figure out how to enter the city, help us think," Luna added.
"Oh... I see. Then how are we getting in?" Dion asked innocently.
Slap!
Aria, Luna, Mei, Sheila, and Cleo slapped their foreheads. Even Gina shook her head without making a sound. Dion looked at the girls’ faces, then checked the condition at the gates, before looking back at the girls once more.
"You just want to get inside, right?" Dion asked.
"Yes, how do we do it?" Aria answered.
Without hesitation, Dion opened his persona screen and activated Shadow Assassin, whose cooldown had just finished. He then turned to Gina.
"Gina, grow big," Dion instructed.
"Kyuuu?"
"Yeah... it’s fine, trust me," Dion said.
"Kyuuu," Gina gave a tiny salute.
Boom! Gina expanded to her massive size. "Vanish," Dion touched Gina, and she instantly turned invisible. He then turned to the bewildered girls.
"Hey... get on," Dion said, extending his hand to pull Luna up.
Luna instantly grabbed Mei’s hand, who grabbed Sheila’s, who grabbed Aria’s, and finally Aria grabbed Cleo’s. Dion pulled them all up, and Gina casually flew toward the gate while invisible. The girls desperately wanted to smack Dion from behind.
"Grr... if it was this easy, why did we bother racking our brains? Unbelievable," Sheila grumbled.
"Right? But well... that’s just Dion," Mei added with a subtle jab.
"Drop it. The main point is we can get in now," Luna said cheerfully.
"We’re about to cross in. Be quiet, nobody speak," Cleo instructed.
"Got it, agreed," Aria replied.
They went completely silent as Gina floated past the guard towers and casually entered the city. As they flew across the skyline, Dion looked down at the empty streets below, packed with guards and soldiers stationed at every corner. It seemed all the citizens were staying indoors. Dion scanned his surroundings for a place to touch down, eventually spotting an empty, hilly area on the right and guiding Gina toward it.
However, once above their destination, everyone was startled to realize the place was a quiet cemetery, slightly dark from the dense canopy of trees despite it still being morning.
"Let’s stop here," Dion said.
"In a graveyard?" Luna asked.
"Where else? The whole city is guarded. We don’t want to cause a scene here, do we?" Dion replied.
"Huh... coming from the guy who almost destroyed the royal capital earlier," Mei jabbed.
"Oh... that was just a bluff. I had zero intention of destroying the capital," Dion replied, seemingly oblivious to the sarcasm.
"Forget it, this spot works fine. It’s quiet here. We can land, get off, and sneak into the city," Cleo reasoned.
"Yeah... come on Gina, head down," Sheila said.
"Gyuuu,"
Gina floated down and boom! landed right between the headstones. They jumped off, and Gina shrank back to her miniature size. Dion deactivated his persona, and they all reappeared. They began walking while looking side to side cautiously.
"This place is pretty creepy, even though it’s still morning," Luna said, scanning her surroundings.
"That’s how it is... if I’m not mistaken, there’s an underground trade route here too... accessed through this graveyard, and if I recall correctly, there’s a path leading to the crystal mine as well," Aria noted.
"You sure know a lot," Sheila remarked.
"Of course, my network is everywhere," Aria boasted proudly.
"Let’s get out of here fast before things turn ugly. Just look at that," Mei said, pointing behind her with her thumb.
Sheila, Luna, and Aria looked back and were shocked to see Cleo clinging tightly to Dion and hugging Gina with a pale, trembling face.
"Huh... she’s... scared?" Sheila asked.
"Oh man... a royal court mage and an SSS-rank class holder afraid of a graveyard? What a reputation," Luna teased.
"Hmm... turns out even someone as incredible as her has a weakness," Mei muttered.
"Hey... I can hear you guys!" Cleo shouted.
"Oh... that’s right. If I remember correctly, this graveyard is also a bandit lair," Aria added.
The moment Aria finished her sentence, whoaaaah! They suddenly stepped on a net trap laid across the graveyard path, and without exception, everyone was swept up inside the net like hunted game. Then they dangled in midair, suspended directly above the trail leading out of the cemetery.
"Hey... what is this... ow... I’m bent in half!" Cleo yelled.
"Sheesh... next time please give accurate and fast intel! A trap like this shouldn’t have been able to catch us!" Mei complained, annoyed.
"Stop moving, Dion!" Luna shouted.
"Who’s moving? I’m squeezed between Sheila and you!" Dion yelled back.
"Sorry, hahaha," Sheila chuckled.
"Kyuuuuuu," Gina squeaked softly, as she was completely squished by everyone too.
"Why would anyone set a trap in a cemetery anyway? How weird," Aria muttered.
"That means their hideout is nearby, and we walked right into their territory. Hey... don’t touch weird places!" Cleo shouted.
Cleo’s words proved true. From behind tall, varied headstones and catacomb-like monuments, numerous people emerged to surround them. The figures were dressed entirely in black, wearing masks.
"Huh... are they... bandits?" Mei asked.
"No... worse. They’re a demon-worshipping cult, a dark mage syndicate that uses dark magic and uses humans for their experiments. Aside from slaves, they also kidnap local residents, which explains all the missing person cases. They operate across Minatheras and Lutherias," Cleo explained, clearly recognizing the uniform of the figures emerging below.
Hearing Cleo’s warning, everyone went dead silent, staring down at the figures below who were simply looking back up at them. Upon closer inspection, the mob was indeed wearing black combat mage robes, complete with hooded cowls and horned masks covering their faces. Dion, Luna, Aria, Sheila, and Mei knew right then and there that they had tumbled straight back into something dangerous.
"Okay... so we’re in danger," Aria said.
"Yep... pretty much," Sheila added.
"Ugh... how annoying. We fell right into another bad situation," Luna grumbled.
"Somebody do something, please!" Mei urged.
"Impossible, we can’t move," Sheila replied.
"Please stop squirming! You’re making the situation worse than it needs to be!" Cleo said angrily.
"Dion... any ideas?" Luna asked.
"Zero, and please stop squirming, I’m gonna get crushed if you and Sheila keep moving around," Dion replied, suffering through the squeeze.
"Kyuuu," Gina finally managed to pop her head out from between the pile and let out a deep breath of relief.
Ultimately, they were completely helpless inside the net, unable to move at all because they were tangled up together. Seeing the situation turn dire, Dion thought hard.
"If I knew this would happen, I wouldn’t have canceled the Shadow Assassin persona earlier. Now I have to figure out another way, and I definitely can’t call recall... I can’t even move," Dion thought to himself while holding onto Gina, who was trapped under everyone else.