Chapter 19
Standing atop the giant ritual circle, Zeth fought the urge to immediately sprint out of the building at top speed.
It was maybe six or seven feet wide? Looking at the unlocked Skill, Demonic Covenant would need a 10 foot diameter circle, so he wanted to say this ritual circle couldn’t have been made for that purpose. But then, the Blood Mage could’ve taken some of the Skills that decreased the minimum diameter of their circles to make it fit in a circle of this size, so it wasn’t actually ruled out. Though, Zeth didn’t know whether those Skills were exclusive to Blood Magus or not—or if he had improved versions, and the basic versions wouldn’t do nearly as much as his did.
Effectively, he had no real idea what this could be for. It could be an Empowerment Ritual, an oversized Hellfire Ritual like the ones he’d made, or one of any of the other Skills he hadn’t discovered yet. At the very least, it didn’t seem to have received a sacrifice yet, so it wouldn’t be capable of doing anything right now.
Zeth almost wanted to reach down and quickly erase the thing before he left. Destroying a circle this large would mean hours upon hours of progress down the drain for his enemy, and there was nothing he savored more than the opportunity to hurt someone he hated. But he resisted the urge. Now wasn’t the time.
This circle had been hidden somehow—he’d gotten a notification about passing an Awareness check before being able to see it, so it was likely a Skill that hid it from people with Stats below a certain threshold. Which meant if this was erased, the Blood Mage would know it couldn’t have been done by some random person passing through. Though, looking at his own Status, Zeth’s Awareness Stat was only at five. Surely that would mean anyone with a couple Levels with any Class that gave out the Stat would be able to see it too? How hadn’t it been discovered by anyone else yet?
He didn’t have time to think about it now, though. Zeth was already somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be, and now that fact was made double by this ritual circle. As much as he hated to admit it, he had no defenses currently, no rituals set up to protect him, and was standing in the middle of enemy territory, which he had just found proof had been set up with rituals to be activated at any moment. No matter how much he wanted answers, he needed to flee. Right now.
Zeth turned to open the door and leave the closet, but just as he reached for the handle, the door swung open on its own. Standing on the other side was a bald man with a stern face.
“Sir,” the man said, “are you authorized to be in here?”
Zeth stammered, unsure what to say.