Chapter 1003: Early Retreat

With Sennefer and Samantha gone, Sunders and Kanter remained behind to look at the Prominent Forest. Or what remained of it, since almost all trees had turned to drifting cinder and ash that would slowly kill their few surviving members.

They probably had to revise their map soon.

Several snow clouds away from the battlefield were returning. But the snow all turned into small twisters upon reaching the heated area below that reflected the bright light of fire and magma. The whole scene almost looked beautiful in the Abyss.

“Who’d have thought such a fearsome opponent is just nearby?” Kanter muttered. “A fallen demon lord. You don’t see them often.”

Sunders didn’t respond. He was still looking in the direction of the Shrieking Expanse with knitted brows.

“Something over there?” asked Kanter.

“I’m thinking… Will she return?”

“I’m not sure. But that won’t be a problem since we’re going to evacuate from this place soon. Dura can do whatever she wants. Besides, I don’t think she can make it back at all.”

Sunders shook his head. He wasn’t referring to Dura, but Madelyne.

When escaping from the demon, Sunders noticed that Madelyne was hiding nearby. When Dura took the demon away, Madelyne dived into the ground to stalk her.

Since Dura was the culprit who killed Madelyne’s family, there was only one thing Madelyne wanted to do.

Sunders did not stop her or mention this matter to the others. In usual times, he would try to stop Madelyne because Dura was several levels stronger. But now… Madelyne might have a chance.

Still, Dura was a truth finder. She could have more deadly secrets or tools in stock.

Sunders shook his head and decided to disregard this matter. Madelyne made her own choice, and she should be ready for the consequence of it.

Sunders returned to his private section and saw Angor still looking at the aftermath of the battle on top of the room. A small pile of snow had gathered on his blond head, giving him a funny look.

“What’s on your mind?” Sunders spoke as he joined Angor.

“Man. Is this what a demon can do? It was just a few minutes, and it erased the land…”

“It’s a very special demon,” Sunders explained what happened during the battle and who Dura was.

“The curse of misfortune? Wow.” Angor widened his eyes.

“According to all the expedition records kept by Moonfrost, a Pilgrim of Misfortune brings endless disasters wherever it goes. There is no way to escape the curse.”

“Then, Miss Dura—”

“We can only expect the worst.”

…

The heavy snow kept on for three days and nights without any signs of stopping.

Away from the Overwatch Base, the giant magma pool had been fully covered inside a white barrier of vapor. This could have been a nice touring spot if not for the sharp smell of sulfur.

As soon as people recovered from the shock of the disaster and resumed their daily routines, they received a new order, that they should prepare their luggage and head to Port Kodo tomorrow.

“Is the Demon Castle no longer a threat?” asked Angor, after hearing the message.

“The red alert is still there,” said Sunders. “But Sennefer decided to retreat ahead of schedule, after what Manjimania did at our doorstep.”

The demon was unlikely to show up here with the lingering curse blocking the inter-level tunnel. Moreover, if Dura somehow returned to the base, they had to make sure she didn’t murder anyone who stayed behind.

“You should prepare as well. I shall use the chance to get you back to the wizarding world.”

Angor nodded. This was already planned. He no longer had a reason to stay.

He stepped out of Sunders’ territory to look for Toby. But after sending several signals and waiting for ten minutes, he still did not find any sign of the bird in the snowstorm.

His joyful mood for getting to go home immediately died down.

He allowed Toby to freely roam around the base because Sunders claimed that it should be safe. Now he wasn’t so sure.

“Is he in trouble, or did he go too far?”

Three days ago, just after Manjimania was drawn away by Dura, Angor told Toby to stay away from the Prominent Forest and the Shrieking Expanse. Other than that, Toby was free to go wherever he wanted.

Then he was too focused on his studies to mind Toby.

He tried to calm himself down. Toby was pretty strong by himself, and he had gravity power and the Dusky Feather to keep him safe. These were enough to get him out of most trouble.

Angor jumped down from the roof and headed to the outer guard tower.

Even though most of the apprentices in the base were neglecting their jobs, the guards standing on the towers had to stay constantly focused. They almost mistook Toby for an intruder the other day. It was Kanter who did the explanation.

Angor leaped between several towers and asked for Toby’s whereabouts to no avail, until someone staying at the north-most tower finally told him something useful. It was not a guard, but a fat, wandering apprentice who was taking it easy and enjoying the view.

“A small gray bird? Let me think. We saw it yesterday when we were fis.h.i.+ng for Silver Stripes.”

A Silver Stripe was a popular cooking material that was believed to improve men’s s.e.xuality.

“Yeah, Rat?” The fat apprentice nudged his partner, a small boy with a rattail hairstyle, who was blus.h.i.+ng after drinking too much alcohol.

“*Hic* I’m not sure ’cause it was dark. But Bobota must have seen it. The guy’s been staring at the sky. Are you Mister Padt, by the way?”

“You know me?” asked Angor.

“Yeah. Bobota told us that you’re Mister Phantom’s student.” The small boy looked at Angor in respect.

Bobota… Angor searched his memories until he thought about a particular man in a white robe. Are we talking about the same man?

The fat apprentice took Angor to the other side of the watchman platform, where they saw another man drinking.

Angor frowned when he saw the familiar crimson chain hanging on this man’s shoulder. He made it.

“Oi, Bobota!” the fat apprentice called. “We all saw there was a strange bird yesterday, right?”

Bobota took another sip and looked directly at Angor. He raised his gla.s.s and toasted.

“We met again, my friend.”

Angor didn’t answer.

“Too bad. Did you forget me already?”

“No.” Angor shook his head. “I’m just surprised to see you here.”

Usually, Angor would exchange some friendly courtesies with one of his customers. But he was not in the mood to do that now.

“Mister Bobota, I just heard it from your partner—” Angor glanced at the fat man beside him.

“Name’s Dusky, sir.”

“—that you encountered a sea bird yesterday, who happens to be my friend.” Angor used an illusion to show Toby’s image. “May I know where he went?”

Bobota inspected the illusion with a thoughtful look.

“Give me a second… It was in the afternoon. We were hanging around the Shaded Dunes.”