Nathan

Year 2850 | Month 9 | Day 4

More time passes with the attacks continuing one after another, every single day.

Until, all of a sudden, the attacks stop.

And I couldn’t be happier.

I just keep working on my experiments without interruption now, trying to start the initial foundation of my next spell. One that’s meant to devour just the air and nothing more.

A rather interesting spell I saw one of the nuisances over the past months trying when they made the air disappear in their little attempt to suffocate me. Which, as expected, didn’t do shit to me. Other than make me a little uncomfortable that is.

What it did do was inspire a better spell than the previous one I came up with to devour oxygen.

Mostly because I figured out a script meant just to devour a certain substance, using it as fuel for the death flames. And to funnel that substance into the flames instead of just letting them naturally eat away at it.

A much better spell this time around.

Even Incendia started going through her own experiments, trying to use her flames in different ways and reexpand what she’s able to do with them.

And eventually, the time finally comes when we’re interrupted again.

But this time around, it’s not to some idiot trying to test me.

“An… army?” I mutter with a frown directed at Claire, who is standing at the entrance of my lab with an oxygen mask on her face to make it breathable in hear. Considering the fact that I’m currently experimenting with the spell to devour oxygen and all, making the lab more than a little lacking in that.

She nods her head before speaking, the microphone in the oxygen mask playing her voice outside of it, “Yes, sir. It would appear as if an army is marching into the inner ring as we speak. Heading straight towards us.”

My frown grows deeper, and I look down for a moment. Then I glance at Incendia and tell her through our bond, ‘I’ll be heading out for a minute. Then we’ll be leaving to deal with this problem.’

I get a hum of acknowledgement from her, the death phoenix not even pausing in her current experiment. Which is why it’s growing hard to talk in here.

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Since I kind of still need oxygen to speak, even if I don’t really need it to live.

So I step out of my lab, shutting the thick vault door behind me before turning towards Claire.

“Should we mobilize our military to intercept?” she asks with a serious look on her face. “From what we’ve been able to gather, this army belongs to and is being led by a baron. Baron Cedric Whitmore to be exact.”

So one of them is finally going to attack me? I wonder if they actually figured anything out from all of those annoying tests.

Other than the fact that I don’t have any weaknesses.

In fact, even I myself have learned some new things about me from their test attacks.

Like the fact that I’m apparently immune to mental magic. Which, according to the skeleton, is a side effect of me being a vampire.

And I guess I am a little thankful for that. Because they definitely would’ve tried to mind control me or something if I wasn’t immune to mental magic.

“No, I’ll go alone,” I tell Claire with a shake of my head. “No reason to sacrifice lives of the denizens here when I can handle this nuisance on my own.”

She frowns and says, “All due respects, sir, the baron is a Class B suppression magician. Don’t you think it’s a little risky to take him on alone?”

That gives me pause for a moment. But after several seconds of thought, I shake my head and tell her, “No, not when I have Incendia with me.”

I turn around and reopen the door to my lab again to let out Incendia, who just finished her experiment and is currently flying straight to the door. And after she passes through, I close it again and begin walking through my home with a quickly moving Claire behind me trying to catch up.

“Please, at least let us follow you with some of the magicians with the Caverns,” she says, still trying to convince me even after I made my decision.

Not sure why though, considering how every other attack has ended up.

But I guess it’s fine.

“Do as you please,” I tell her with a wave of my hand, deciding that I don’t really care much at this point.

If they want to protect an immortal, they can do it.

It’s their time they’re wasting after all.

She looks rather pleased about that before she instantly begins getting to work gathering the magicians of the base. Which have grown in numbers over the time the Caverns have been here till the point it’s at now, with a few dozen magicians amongst our number. And in the end, she decides to leave about five behind to help protect the Caverns while we’re gone.

Then we head on out, traveling through the inner ring until we arrive on an open plains where we find the large army of about twenty thousand soldiers. Amongst them I spot a few hundred wearing officer outfits, likely all magicians.

I go ahead and tell the others here to wait in the forest before I proceed to walk out onto the plains with Incendia on my shoulder as my eyes scan over the enemy forces.

It’s certainly a much bigger army than the inner ring forces could put together.

But it’s not really going to amount to much despite that.

I continue looking over their forces as I walk towards the midway point of the plains, and I can see a lot of different magicians setting up support and enhancement spells over the other soldiers. Meanwhile a single person stands at the front of every one of the other soldiers.

This person looks a little older. Maybe in their mid-forties to early fifties. And he seems to be the impatient type of person.

Because the moment I stop walking, he gives his soldiers the word to attack, not even bothering with talking to me.

Well, time to see how strong a baron really is.