The viscount's expression turned bitter.
"For how long, Lady Fairmount?" He asked her.
She looked at him with anger. "For however long it takes to find him."
"But the economic impact on my city would be catastrophic if we restrain exit from the city for-"
"Are you questioning the scope of a Marquis' authority, Viscount Greendove?" She asked him before he could finish his sentence.
"No, Lady Fairmount. It will be done," he said and turned to the side of one of the nearby guards. "Convey the orders to the commander of the city. Make sure no one leaves."
"I will need you to accompany me since I need to leave the city," Elise said once he gave his orders.
The Viscount was confused. "Are we leaving the city now?" He asked, perplexed by her decision.
"Yes. We will chase someone who left the city. If we don't find that person in 24 hours, we will come back to inspect everyone in the city," she said.
"But the blood moon?" He asked her and waited for an answer. However, his question was met with a stare that made him give up on making her change her mind.
"Should we leave immediately?" He asked her.
She nodded. "Yes. I remember the direction the mage went in, so we will chase them in that direction till we notice something suspicious."
They lifted themselves into the air and shot through the air in the direction that Leo had flown in.
Meanwhile, Leo had been flying for almost an hour but had seen no change to the compass. He kept going but kept a note of what was happening to the environment. As he was flying in the direction that the compass pointed him in, the evidence of human settlement in the forest was going down.
The roads that led to the forest were morphing into muddy paths. There were no longer any more signs that represented where he was, and the Magical Beasts that he was encountering were becoming stronger.
At one point, he noticed that there was a 5th Circle Magical Beast in the distance. He made sure that he kept a very safe distance from it while thinking about how safe his gamble was. He would be furious if the treasure was not worth the trouble.
Two more hours passed as he flew past the forests. He felt that he was getting close to where he needed to be. This was because the pressure the blood moon was bearing on him had increased. Normally he was unaffected, but he was starting to feel a slight amount of discomfort because of it.
He suddenly swerved from his path. He looked back and saw the projection of a scorpion's tail. The tail was so enormous that it could reach him who was 500 meters in the air. He looked at the source of the projection and saw a massive scorpion that was 50 meters long.
He kept going in the direction he was supposed to, increasing the distance between him and the scorpion. His mind started racing when he saw it since it was a being that could easily crush him.
The scorpion was a Golden Ink Scorpion, a 5th Circle Magical Beast. If it truly wanted to go after him, he knew he wouldn't be able to escape. Fortunately for him, the beast quickly changed its sight to the nearest Magical Beast when it missed its first attack.
He looked up at the Blood Moon that was shining down with a newfound fear. Exactly how powerful were its effects on the Magical Beasts? Where did it get the power to change the behavior of the Beasts?
After another hour, his dimensional ring showed some moment. He took it out and saw the compass shining. After noticing this change, he slowed down while staying in the air, waiting for the glow to disappear.
Instead of the glow disappearing, however, it intensified. The compass started to heat up and started to emit more light. Leo didn't know what to do since he couldn't hide the light. He looked around to see if there were any Magical Beasts that were going to approach him because of it.
His guess was right. A high number of Magical Beasts noticed the bright light in the dim light that the Blood Moon provided and started to make their way toward it. He didn't know if he was supposed to stay where he was or leave for his own safety.
He tried putting the compass inside his dimensional ring, but the ring couldn't accept it for some unknown reason. At this point, the compass vibrated intensely and escaped his hand. He was a little careless and wasn't anticipating any movement from it.
The glow stopped and it instead became a bright beacon of light that shot into the sky. The light seemed to be attracted to the Blood Moon since it seemingly merged into it. At this point, the ground started to rumble.
Leo looked back down, his attention shifting away from the light at the top to where the light met the ground. At that spot, he saw the ground part to make way for an object that was rising. The instant that the object exited the ground, a wave of energy shot out from it.
He immediately created a shield around himself and braced for impact, but it never came. He opened his eyes and saw that he was surrounded by a huge barrier that had a red hue to it.
He looked below and no longer saw any Magical Beasts in the vicinity. All of them were pushed away by the barrier and weren't able to reenter. The only other time that he had seen a barrier like this was the time he got his tome.
This made him optimistic about what the reward for his recklessness could be. Would it be on the same level as his tome? That seemed unlikely since even that event had an impossible chance of occurring. Two impossibly rare opportunities being presented to the same person would be... impossible.
The object slowly unearthed itself, revealing a little of its structure to Leo. He was able to make out that it was some form of a building based on the top which looked like a roof. The building was made entirely of stone, but it seemed to be a lot more resilient since it showed no signs of damage.
After another ten minutes, the building completely emerged out of the ground, showing its full glory to Leo. It was a 100-meter-tall building that almost looked like a temple.
It stood on a platform that was accessible from the front of the building. He descended to the ground to take a better look. The ceiling was supported by four rows of massive columns, one for each side.
Each column had elaborate carvings that seemed to represent scenes of battle. He would have been interested in looking closer, but his attention was drawn by the massive statue that stood in front of the temple.
He took a few steps forward to take a closer look. The carvings were incredibly intricate, making the statue look like a real person. The only giveaways were the size of the statue and the lack of color.
