Chapter 248: Celine’s Nightmare
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Link had run into trouble with the dark magic letter as soon as he returned to the territory. He was unfamiliar with the territory's current situation.
Hearing that Dorias had gone out to patrol, he was a little shocked. Rather than making a brash conclusion, he continued asking, "Does Dorias go out often?"
"He'd occasionally go for a stroll, especially when he's full. He just ate a cow." The soldier didn't find anything odd.
Okay, since Dorias wasn't here, Link could only rely on magic spells to catch up to Milda. Fortunately, she had only left five minutes ago. She shouldn't be far. Thinking of this, Link walked to the east gate of the Scorched Ridge camp. After walking a few
dozen feet, he saw Lucy coming from the civilian area outside the camp. He called out to her.
"Lord, you've returned?" She looked joyful.
"Yes, I just got back. I need you to do something!" Link said seriously.
"Please tell me." Lucy grew serious as well.
"Go find Jacker and tell him to increase the patrols of the Magician area at night. Tell him that someone might attack the Magicians tonight. He mustn't let anything happen!"
The attack was Link's guess and might not happen but better to be safe than sorry.
Lucy had a stern expression. She nodded and said, "Don't worry. Nothing bad will happen!"
"Good."
Link continued toward the east gate. When he passed a cabin, he suddenly heard a familiar voice.
"Link, hey, over here. Look here."
He turned and saw Celine. She was leaning against the cabin's window with her head stuck out, waving at him. Bent over, hiding by the window, with only half her face revealed, she looked like a thief.
Link found the sight funny. His tension lifted a little. Walking to the window, he laughed and asked, "What are you doing?"
Celine was in no mood to joke. She ran to the door and cracked it open, peeking out. "Come in. I have something to tell you."
Link was troubled. He was on the way to get Milda back, so he said, "Why don't you wait a little? I'm busy."
Celine pouted unhappily. "This is important too."
Okay, fine. Link would put that proud princess to the side. He entered the cabin. "Okay, but I'm only giving you five minutes."
"Five minutes is enough." A smile bloomed on Celine's face. She pulled Link into a corner and took out a basic wand. She focused, and the wand instantly glowed with white light; with it came a very strange aura.
Link wavered. He had actually been affected.
A voice sounded in his mind. It was the spirit of the Storm Lord's sword.
"The girl's bloodline talent has started awakening. This is a mysterious power."
Pleased, Link patted Celine's shoulder and praised, "Very good."
"Ah, it's not that." Celine was still anxious. She said, "The main point isn't the power. It's the changes it brings. For some reason, I keep getting nightmares these days."
"Nightmares?" Link's heart jumped.
There were two situations if a person continuously had nightmares. The first was a health problem. While sleeping, the brain would receive the weak signals from the body and react with a nightmare. These were commonly seen in the average man.
The second was that a person's soul had a bad premonition, but because the future is always changing, it would create unclear and terrifying images during sleep. This usually happened to Magicians. Some with special talents were especially sensitive.
Before the Level-8 demon Tarviss escaped, Link and Herrera all had nightmares. Reality had proved them correct.
Celine obviously had no health problems. Her cheeks were ruddy, and her skin was clear. She was plump, and her eyes were bright. She was very healthy, so it must be the second situation.
She was still caught up in her nightmare. Worried, she said, "I don't know why I suddenly got this power either. Do you think the nightmares have something to do with it?"
In Celine's eyes, Link was the authority of magic. They were very close too, so she obviously went to him about something private like nightmares.
Link comforted her, "There should be some relation, but it's not a big problem. Tell me, what's in your nightmares?"
"They're scary." Celine's eyes were fearful. "I dreamed that the Scorched Ridge turned into a sea of blood. Corpses floated everywhere. A bunch of blurry black shadows ran around. They were so fast and killed anyone they saw. A shadow saw me so I ran, but I
couldn't get away. I saw you too, covered in blood. You were screaming, and Lucy was on the ground. Her eyes were open, but she was dead…Ah, I can't talk about it!"
As she spoke, Celine was touched by the horrible scenes in her nightmare. Tears sprang in her eyes and rolled down.
Link was chilled. Seeing Celine like this, he felt tender affection toward her. He involuntarily pulled her into his arms and murmured, "It's okay, it's just a dream. I'm here for you."
Celine nodded lightly.
Link looked calm, but he was the opposite inside. In his mind, the Storm Lord Sword's voice sounded again.
"Kid, the bloodline governed by the soul has very strong prediction abilities. This dream will probably come true."
"I know." As a Magician, he would definitely not overlook such an obvious premonition of danger. Thinking a bit, Link said, "Celine, let's go. I'll take you to someone."
At first, he wanted to go find Milda alone. After hearing this dream, he did not dare leave Celine in Scorched Ridge alone.
Without thinking too much about it, Celine nodded.
Link brought Celine out of the cabin and ran into Jacker. The big guy seemed to have already received Lucy's message and was busy arranging Scorched Ridge's defense. Seeing Link, he walked over and saluted seriously. "Lord."
Looking at him, Link realized that Jacker's war aura had risen to Level-5. The epic Battle Art was extraordinary. Within a short period, Jacker had had a breakthrough. It was great!
Link said, "I feel that something bad will happen. There might be trouble. Alert the camp that all Magicians must be on guard."
"I understand."
Link thought of something else. "Is Eliard still at Scorched Ridge?"
Jacker nodded. "He's always been here. Recently, he's helping with the Mage Tower."
"Good. If—and I mean if—something happens, protect him."
"Yes." Jacker grew solemn. He could sense the danger in Link's tone.
"Very good. High Elf Princess Milda has left the camp, but it's too late. I'm worried she'll run into danger, so I'm going to get her back. The safety of the camp during this time depends on you."
Jacker slammed a fist against his chest, promising as a soldier. Link nodded and summoned a Wind Fenrir. He helped Celine up the beast and then climbed up behind her.
With a low roar, the Wind Fenrir pounced forward.
The Wind Fenrir's speed was around seventy-six yards per second. But even at this speed, Link traveled more than ten miles without seeing the High Elf Princess. He could only sense a faint Mana presence.
"It seems that the princess has also used magic for quick traveling," Link said to Celine in his arms.
Scorched Ridge was very small. Celine had also seen Milda's entourage, so she grew doubtful. "Are you talking about that group of snobby High Elves? I saw that they weren't polite with you."
Link nodded. "They truly weren't very polite, and I don't like them either. But compared to the alliance between our races, these are just small things. I can't let her run into trouble while on my land."
A mature lord would never let personal affairs affect politics. In politics, there were no relationships, only interests. Without interests, even family could cut ties. Of course, Link would not go to that extent. He had his own bottom line. For Princess Milda, his bottom line was currently to make sure nothing would happen to her while she was here so he wouldn't get into trouble.
They had traveled another mile while talking. Link suddenly stopped. "Huh? How come the Mana disappeared?"
There were four more kilometers from the pier. It was a lowland with small hills everywhere and had an unclear view. Without the Mana for guidance, Link paused. He was ready to make the Wind Fenrir run up a hill to observe.
However, as soon as he thought of this, dozens of black shadows snuck out of the hills. Then Link heard a hoarse voice order, "Shoot!"
There were the clicks of triggers and then the whistles of arrows tearing through the air.
"Careful!" Celine cried reflexively before falling silent. She once was a powerful Warrior as well with rich battle experience. She knew that she shouldn't distract Link right now.
Link reacted extremely fast. The moment the black shadows appeared, his gaze hardened, and he activated Edelweiss, the Level-5 defensive spell. Then, he released a single directional Flame Blast at a shadow.
When the enemies shot the arrows, the Flame Blast exploded as well. With a boom, the cone-shaped flame tide flooded towards the shadows.
However, what happened next shocked Link.
The shadows reacted extremely fast as well. Link had only used 0.3 seconds to release the Flame Blast 32 yards away. The spell had a range of more than 20 yards, but the enemy actually dodged it.
In addition to dodging, he attacked as well.
Link was taken aback. He thought, How come they're so confident that they think arrows can break through my defense spell?
Just in case, Link entered a state of absolute focus. Time slowed instantly. He discovered that the arrows were abnormal. They were a bruised color with an eerie blue glow around it. Through the glow, he could see a large number of small runes.
Oh no! he thought. These are super anti-magic arrows! My Edelweiss can't stop them!
The super anti-magic arrows used magic gold made from alchemy. Magic Disturbance Formations as high as Level-5 were carved on them. They were different from regular anti-magic arrows. Rather than using force to break through defensive spells, they destroyed the spell by disturbing the spell's Mana structure.
Usually, these arrows could destroy defense spells up to Level-6. Because of the arrows' extreme speed, most Magicians had no time to activate spells up to that level. That was why super anti-magic arrows were known as a Magician's Kryptonite.
Link reacted quickly. Sensing danger, he used the last one-tenth of a second to use his consummate skill—the Spatial Lens.
With a light hum, the air began twisting. Ripples appeared in the air around Link and Celine.
The next instance, the arrows shot into the distorted air.
Spatial power could affect everything. As long as its power was not past the magic's limit, Link could control the distortion to stop the arrows.
The limit was the peak of Level-7. This was not because spatial magic couldn't do it, but because spells at Level-7 would affect the structure of the spatial Mana, causing it to collapse.
Obviously, a few arrows were far from the top of Level-7.
In the distorted space, the arrows cut straight paths. They brushed past Link and Celine and shot out without causing any harm.
"Retreat!" The black shadow was straightforward. Seeing that no arrows hit the target, he immediately tried to retreat.
But how could Link let them go so easily?
