Chapter 158: Phase Shift Magic
"Well? Are you picking anything up?" Inquired Jules hopefully.
"Hm...sorry, but it’s pretty tough to use my nose effectively in this place, Commander. This place has so much dust, and there’s also the stench of mold, they kinda overpower any other scents. I am picking up traces of human scents, particularly the smell of sweat, but not enough to track them. There’s a fairly strong smell of burnt dust too, that’s blanketing the other scents quite a bit," Raven shook his head.
"That was probably from my attacks. Perhaps I should’ve had Siele fight him instead..."
It was the next day, the 25th of June, 1919. After alerting the rest of the Knight Order to keep an eye out for Alphonse and Akila, along with detailed physical descriptions of both, Jules contacted Raven and brought him to the abandoned mansion, in the hopes that he’d be able to track the pair by their scents.
"If you can’t track them from their scents in here, I don’t think we’ll have much luck outside either. It rained pretty heavily last night, almost immediately after they escaped, that probably washed away their scents from the forest," Chimed in Tilda.
"Yeah, it’s hard to track any scents in areas where it rained, doubly so in a windy area like this forest. I’ll go outside and give it a try, but I wouldn’t expect too much, if I were you," Raven informed Jules.
"Damn it...because of his Detection Magic, I thought it would be best if we attacked with a small group, especially since we wouldn’t have had enough Detection Jamming Spells for a larger group. That was a mistake...in hindsight, I should’ve held off a bit longer, asked Tacitus to make us more Detection Jamming Spells, and then surrounded the building with Knights and Inquisitors, to intercept them if they did manage to escape," Sighed Jules wistfully.
"I mean, if this Plore guy had been alone like you’d assumed, then your plan almost definitely would’ve worked once you cast Teleportation Jamming. It’s not like you had any way of knowing he’d summoned someone from a different world using an Ancient Magic Ritual," Pointed out Raven, patting her arm with a wry smile.
"They couldn’t have gotten that far, since we wrecked their Teleport Spells. Well, unless Plore had more in his Storage Ring, of course, I did notice that he was wearing one," Mused Tilda thoughtfully.
"Considering how long he’s been on the run from us, that certainly wouldn’t surprise me," Replied Jules with a grimace, before adding, "Okay, we’ve covered the entire mansion, looks like it’s a dead end in here. I know you said you probably won’t be able to pick up any scents outside thanks to the rain last night, but would you mind trying anyway?"
"Sure. Since there were traces of their scents in here, I’ll be able to recognize them if I come across any scent trails outside. The chances are low, but it’s worth a try, at least," Nodded Raven, before they headed outside the mansion.