Chapter 194: Learning the Truth (1/2)
Tyler only watched the fortress and everything around it vanish for a moment as he immediately teleported back to the castle in an instant. He had let his anger get the best of him and had consumed all his mana with the last few skills he used.
Warp creation was the highest level skill in his Spatial skill series and as such, consumed an absurd amount of mana. In the end, he had forced himself to use it twice despite his current state, and thus he was beginning to feel the side effects as his vision went white the moment he and Liz appeared in the main hall of the castle with the last of his strength.
He felt a wave of exhaustion wash over him and immediately lost consciousness but his fall was caught by Zelda who had instinctively sensed their arrival and moved to greet him. Her shadowy figure rushing towards him was the last thing he saw before he passed out.
'Yes... That's it. Just a little more. It won't be long now.'
Like a fading thought in the distance, Tyler awoke from his slumber with a staggering headache and a growling stomach as he felt like he had heard something in his dreams but could not remember what it was for the life of him. His eyelids felt heavy but he still forced them open as he saw a word-class Beauty above him saying something but his ears were ringing and thus could not hear her.
His eyes darted around the room he was in and notice it was just his office. It seems he was currently lying on Rain's lap as she spoke to him but he still couldn't hear her. As his eyes moved, he soon noticed someone entering the room and Tyler turned his head to take a proper look.
Two figures had walked in one after their other as they approached him with a relieved look on one of their faces as the other was wearing a mask. One of these figures was Albert who seemed to have almost fully recovered from his previous injuries although he hadn't sustained many injuries and had just exhausted himself completely so it wasn't something a low-grade potion couldn't fix.
The other figure to enter the room was Zomatsu who was dressed in his usual outfit with his mask on. They seemed to have been waiting outside for Tyler to wake up and had entered when they heard Rain's voice.
Noticing Tyler couldn't hear their greetings, Albert quickly brought out a potion from his storage ring and offered it for Tyler to drink. As they both knelt before him and waited.
This was a rare mana recovery potion as they knew Tyler was suffering from mana deprivation after using so many skills and spells in rapid successions. Even someone with an absurd amount of mana reserves like him would surely suffer from this if they were that reckless with their abilities.
Tyler could understand Albert's intentions even with the headache that currently plagued him so he promptly drank the potion and relaxed for a moment. As he felt his mana being restored, his hearing slowly returning back to him and he could finally hear Rain's worried tone as she asked how he was feeling. He replied in the affirmative but Tyler thought he may have gone too far this time.
However, as he felt his mana recovering slowly from the effects of the mid-grade mana potion, he also felt something familiar happening within him as he could feel that his already massive mana reserves had increased yet again just like the last time in the forest.
He hadn't understood what had happened back then but from what he knew now, he guessed that his innate ability, Potential Break, maybe the cause of this as it was probably still passively affecting his body without permission. However, this didn't feel like a good thing because his mana body was currently still damaged.
He could feel the mana struggling to fit in his mana body and the sheer amount of energy in there was threatening to choke him. For now, he would need to constantly use a spell every so often so as to avoid an overload.
However, his physical body wasn't in the best shape to handle this with the whole negative corruption and all. Still, it was best not to worry anyone about that especially since he had found out a way to fix it thanks to the Dark Garuda. In the end, giving that guys soul to that monster had turned out to be a great thing.
”How long was I out?”
He spoke to Albert who was kneeling before him next to Zomatsu and Albert answered frankly.
”Twenty-four hours my Lord.”
”Is that so? You both don't have to keep kneeling there you know. Just have a seat. Anyway, how's everyone else doing?”
”We were able to avoid the worst-case scenario thanks to you, Lord. Our casualties are fewer than what I had witnessed but we had still lost a third of our current fighting force in the castle not including the trolls in Darkin.”
”I see... And how's Liz and Erin. They seem to have taken the most damage, I couldn't fix anything even with my healing spell.”
At his words, Rain who was clinging tightly to him had immediately lost her enthusiasm and her mood dropped drastically which told Tyler all he needed to know.
”I'm afraid both the Lady Liz and Erin are not in the best of shape but lady Liz and Lady Rain's conditions are something that could be easily fixed by Erin. However, she currently hasn't woken up since the battle as her life force is extremely low.”
”I see... From what I sensed earlier her source seemed increasingly weak and so different that I almost didn't recognize her with Magic sense alone. I didn't ask earlier because it didn't seem like it would affect me but right now it has so I'll ask once, what happened to her?”
Albert didn't hesitate for even a second as he seemed to have made up his mind for a while now and immediately opened his mouth and spoke without holding anything back. The truth of the matter was simple and he narrated the story to both Tyler, Z, and Rain who listened attentively.
Tyler was aware of the fact that Erin was a Nymph, but to be more specific, she was a Naiad or in simpler terms, a water Nymph that dwelled in the Azabed region, or at least that was how it used to be. To be frank, even Albert wasn't aware of her actual age but based on the lake she had been born in, it was safe to say she had been born at least more than 800 years ago.
Perhaps she had existed even during the time of the demon king. He met her as a boy and befriended her not just because he felt she was lonely all by herself but it was also a way for him to get away from the life path that had been scripted by his family.