64 Construction in progress (1/2)
In the middle of the afternoon, in a barren land mostly filled with stones and rocks instead of grass and trees, a frail little girl suddenly appeared from nowhere and fell from the air. When she first arrived at her destination, Leilade realized that Malakov changed a bit the surrounding landscape, and to avoid being materialized into the ground, she preferred to be a little bit higher. However, this time, it was really too high.
Thump aaaaaAAAAh Pouf
Everyone she knew, except the harmless Candaith, always had a small period where they had an issue with moving their own body. It was only a few seconds for most, like her, that's why most portals and teleportation gates where located in secure and protected locations. Even when invading, the magicians made sure to be covered by either the local obstacles or by a defensive structure. That's why, after her fall of nearly 5 meters, she couldn't balance her body quickly enough to not fell on her butt.
At the same time, she had let out a small shriek not befitting at all of her position in the Demonic Army and looking around, she was relieved to not have any witness. Cleaning the back of her clothes, to remove the dust and dirt on it, she scanned the surroundings and found the position of the base a little further North. That small incident was the only reason why she didn't appear immediately near it, otherwise, the image she projected in front of the rest of the survivors would have been slightly damaged.
Thinking about that, she only noticed something unusual when the Viscount warned her about something.
(Outlander, there is something weird around the base, and not some eccentricities of Malakov, something not from our side.)
Hearing what her most trusted soul said, she paused her walk and truly use her entire power to scout the surroundings. At first, she found nothing, but in the end, there was a place where her mana couldn't enter. It was similar to the spells surrounding the base, but unlike them, it was far too crude. They made sure to still allow magic to pass through and only gave the illusion of emptiness. What the other party did was just blocking everything in a small area. To put it more blindly, it was the difference between something concrete with camouflage and something without it.
Approaching careful that place, the more she crept closer, the stronger was her interest. She was certain that none of the magus she met could have felt it, with their archaic ways, meaning that only other nations or that Organization could be responsible. She was certain that they would be found, albeit not that quickly. She still had no idea if the gigantic scene was truly prepared, especially the fake and the true armies.
Deciding that it was still useless to spare a bit of mana, she turned invisible when she was dozens of meters away. Finally arriving nearby, she saw a grey patch of land, not really that discreet. From afar, it could pass as a big rock, but when someone was as close as she was, it was obvious that it wasn't natural. But they still made some efforts, so it was a good initiative. Piercing through the cover, she stumbled upon three individuals, one was sleeping while the other two were discussing while looking through a weirdly shaped instrument. Looking more attentively, it was similar to a binocular or scope.
”So, they are the surveillance team.” Laying around, three bags were used as a mattress with one occupied and a small pile of garbage was located at the outskirt of the small encampment. Right now, the only human was noting something on a small book, probably what they observed. As for the two others, one was a sleeping female elf while the other was a ratman. ”Weird combination.”
Inside a country that still had some slaves, albeit not openly like the Synnada Empire, to find two non-humans working with a human was rare. But thinking about the supposedly immense power of the Organization, it was not that surprising. However, the appearance of the ratman still baffled a little Leilade, since she hadn't heard about that race since she first arrived here. Meaning that he was a long way from home.
Now she had a choice, should she kill them or just let them be? Because they were quite far, she had a doubt whether Malakov located them. She was certain that the unreliable lich felt their presence, otherwise, he wouldn't have been her strongest subordinate. But to pinpoint exactly where those rodents where located, without leaving the premise of the base, it was pretty hard. Especially since he had to use all of his mana daily just to meet the requirements of master Agnil.
Because she didn't want to ruin a plan, she decided to just let them live a few hours more. Reaching the base, she didn't have to wait for a lich to open the way. The sight beyond the shield and protections was quite good, especially the entrance. She was not deceived. Touching on of the two statues representing Ymir, she felt an uncontrollable terror filling her heart. Even that small detail was taken care of, not that it affected her in any way. Nodding her head with a smile, two undead similar to the one she created at the Academy opened the door.
They still were not armored and equipped with weapons, but it shouldn't take very long. Depending on whether they will still be bait or a threat. Inside the first room, she saw numerous smaller skeletons carving the stone walls of inscriptions. Most of those were just incomprehensible sentences in Demonic Language, that didn't make any sense. Like ”Attaquer sala de baño with kinder”. That made no sense, but because no one could really understand it, it was just nice to have.
Some spiked lanterns were hanging around those comical sentences, making the room illumined but not that much. On the ground, beautiful artworks and drawings representing the numerous planets they conquered were visible. It was still in construction, but to make a first impression, it was nice. After two, two new doors led to the deeper part, but a lich indicated the wall standing between the two.