Chapter 1163: Reuniting with Relia |
It took around half a day for Marcus’ clones to find the Lamia’s town.
When they did locate it though, he and his companies headed towards it at full speed.
While they did not have Relia leading this time, their recent visit and recognition from some of the Lamias allowed them to enter the settlement.
Luckily, Realia had clearly been of similar mind as them, as when they were brought to the single hotel catering to outsiders, they found her already waiting there.
She had figured that if any of them survived the battle against Gronex that they would come looking for her here.
If no one ever showed up within a week, she planned on searching through Tralenstein and Borealia before heading back to her home and reporting to her master.
"I honestly didn’t think that I’d be seeing all of you alive again. You must have been pretty lucky to escape that dragon with your lives."
Relia seemed genuinely shocked to see them all.
When Marcus’ doppelganger that had led her away from the battle had vanished, she had taken it as a sign that he had perished.
At first Relia thought that they were joking. That was until she saw the serious looks on Marcus and Quillon’s faces.
"I’m not sure if this really serves as proof, but here’s a few scales. I’d show you more, but this really isn’t the place to be pulling anything too large out."
Marcus swiftly pulled out a small portion of Gronex’s hide that was still intact. Truthfully, most of the Lava Dragon’s scales had been destroyed during the course of the battle.
Relia’s mouth opened and closed rapidly like a fish that had been taken out of water.
"Impossible! Not even the empress could handle that beast!" Relia shouted.
Her outburst garnered some attention from other guests in the hotel’s lobby where they had reunited.
Seeing this, the four of them retreated tot eh room that Relia had rented to continue their conversation.
Marcus, Lyra, and Quillon gave her an abbreviated version of the events that occurred after she was whisked away.
When she was remained of her panic at the sight of Gronex, Relia became slightly embarrassed.
She was supposed to be acting as a guide under the orders of her ruler, but she had completely lost her composure.
"None of us blame you. You’re not weak, but you’re also not incredibly strong either. You likely would have been more of a hindrance than a help."
Quillon’s blunt statement did not appear to make Relia feel any better judging by the frown on her face.
While Marcus and Lyra knew that he was trying to tell her that it was not her fault, to anyone that did not know him, it really sounded like he was criticizing her.
"Well, that’s enough about our unexpected dragon encounter. We should focus on our next move. Our goal is still to make it to your home after all." Marcus said, deciding that it was best to change the subject since Relia looked like her soul was about to leave her body.
"Yes, my master is still expecting all of you, and we’re quite behind now. The monster outbreak is still blocking the main route, and though it’s clear of dangers now, the path through the magma sea no longer exists. We’ll have to take an even more roundabout way, but it should keep us out of trouble."
This time Relia assured them all that there were not any currently known powerful monsters or beasts that had made the areas around this route their home.
After what had just recently happened, she was not going to take any more chances.
"Got it. So do we leave immediately?" Marcus asked.
"Yeah, the time allotted to me is already running out. I gave myself a bit extra in case something unforeseen got in the way, but we’ve used up all of that now. You three are ready to go, right? We won’t be slowing down or taking many breaks going forward."
Marcus, Lyra, and Quillon smiled in affirmation.
They were all back in peak condition and could go for several days without needing to stop if necessary. Of course, Marcus could go on practically indefinitely without tiring.
With that, the four of them left the Lamias’ town once more and headed out.
For days on end, the four of them ran through the tunnels of the Darklands for days on end with only the occasional short stop to eat.
All together they traveled several tens of thousands of kilometers. It was a distance that would have exceeded the entire circumference of the Earth from the rough measurements Marcus had taken along the way.
This ended up being more than the thirty thousand kilometers Relia had first mentioned, but that was due to their need to take a longer path.
Instead of taking the most direct route to the southwest, they had gone off far to the southeast before changing directions and heading almost due west.
After all of this, it would typically be difficult to have a sense of where they were under the continent, but Marcus had merely needed to send up one of his doppelgangers to take a look around.
That is how he knew that they were currently deep below a nation in the southwest called Lokrehim.
It actually bordered Aezam, the large desert nation located at the southern end of the continent.
’If we finish up whatever we need to do here, maybe we can go take a look around.’ Marcus thought as Relia began to slow down.
Up head in the tunnel was clearly something that did not appear there naturally.
A large stone fortification had been carved into the walls. Blocking the way forward.
There were guards milling about out front and archers stationed on the ramparts. Just from a quick glance, Marcus could tell that they were all decently high level. Over level thirty at least.
"We’re almost there. We just need to pass through that checkpoint, and we’ll be able to enter the city proper."
Relia was obviously excited as she brought them through the last bit of their journey. Very soon they would finally reach their destination.
