Unexpected Offering
Floe Bay was glowing in its summer beauty. The grand mages of the Deepblue had all met up as usual in Sharon’s public meeting hall, about to discuss the operations of the Deepblue for the following month. From the french window here, one could take in the entire beauty of Floe Bay.
All of them looked relaxed, Blackgold included. While they hadn’t had the extra income from Richard’s runes in the past year or so, the amount of Sharon’s Delight they’d given out had also decreased in turn. The grey dwarf quite liked this situation, because the financial condition was much more stable and easier to predict. Anyone working in finance hated uncertainty in either direction.
It didn’t take a long time for the discussion to come to a conclusion. The mages all completed their arrangements for July and August, falling into some rare idle chatter. Sharon hadn’t participated this time, but there was no need for her regular presence anyway. The grand mages could take care of most of the work, and the legendary mage’s whereabouts were often unpredictable, After the blow from Mountainsea, she’d been gone for months at a time to the endless planes to earn money. While it had been two years, the effects had yet to completely disappear.
Now, for instance, the grand mages had not seen Sharon for nearly three months, and nobody knew how long she would wander the various planes before her return.
In the past, there was often more joy than worry when Sharon returned. Recently, however, the grand mages learned from her words that the places she went to were quickly diminishing in profits. With the strength of her dragon-repelling aura increasing with each expedition, the difficulty in capturing greater dragons increased as well. With the dragons now able to sense her arrival from a hundred kilometres away, they would immediately flee. Even the legendary mage found it hard to make up for that distance. In fact, more mature and powerful dragons even had the time to pack up their most precious treasures before taking off!
Just as the grand mages were relaxedly enjoying the great afternoon sunshine, a violent magic undulation ripped through the hall. Chaotic elemental particles spread in all directions, repelling and charging into each other as the hall was quickly enveloped by a small storm. The mana in the grand mages began to stir, and with it being so unexpected the protective magics of the grand mages were completely ineffective as the storm caused them to sway everywhere.
Just as all the shocked mages did their best to control the chaotic magic, an exceedingly terrifying, berserk aura descended upon the place, leaving them all without the ability to even move or think.
This pressure came from a disparity of strength, similar to a dragon’s aura with regular humans. However, to be able to completely pressure them even with an elemental storm here, this was a strength that far surpassed even the legendary mage!
While everyone was overwhelmed with shock, a teleportation gate suddenly opened at the centre, and a snow-white and satiny thigh peeked out amidst the brilliant rays of magic. But then, as if pulled by an invisible hand, it was forced back into the gate.
The abrupt change, with the large gap between the terrifying aura and snow-white thigh, immediately caused the grand mages’ thoughts to short-circuit for a moment. The portal closed for a moment, gone as quickly as it opened, but just as it seemed to disappear it shone brightly all of a sudden, spitting out mottled light like it was a fountain.
*Whoosh!* The familiar figure of the legendary mage charged out of the portal. She turned around in mid-air the moment she was out, shooting out a dazzling ray of light that slammed into the gate.
The teleportation gate flickered violently, to the point that the space around it was showing signs of twisting, but it did not shrink as the legendary mage had anticipated. Instead, it increased in size a few times, to the point that it nearly filled up the space in the tremendous hall.
The leaping rays of magic dimmed till it was almost impossible to see, and the raging waves of corrosive hot air occupied everyone’s senses. An enormous demon head peeked out of the gate, its sharp horn rubbing against the edges as if this wasn’t a portal made of magic but a solid body. Numerous sparks flew out, and the sound of metal crashing against metal rang within the hall. The most striking thing on the head was the terrifying large mouth with fierce teeth all over, large enough to swallow all of the grand mages a short distance away. There were ten or so forked tongues within, coiled together like snakes. They reached out over ten metres far, practically licking Sharon’s fingers!
This boundless and deep aura that could stimulate the fear in the depths of a race made it clear to the grand mages that this great demon had a rank that far exceeded their knowledge. When the front half of the demon’s head peeked out of the teleportation gate, the pressure had left the grand mages paralysed on the ground. The little bit of mana they had somehow been able to gather dissipated instantly, and the raging elements in the hall had long since gone quiet except for a portion that was timidly coiled at the legendary mage’s side.
The demon did its best to peek further in, but with the legendary mage controlling it, the teleportation gate finally began to slowly shrink. Failing when success was in sight, the demon descended into fury. Its large mouth opened and closed as it roared loudly, “Sharon, don’t let me see you in the abyss again!”
The legendary mage hummed and valiantly gestured her middle finger at the demon, “I’ve already heard this twice from you!”
The pulling force from the other side of the gate immediately strengthened, and the time of activation of the channel between planes reached its limit. The enraged great demon was forcefully sent back to the abyss, and the teleportation gate then completely closed off. However, the aura of flames and rot still pervaded the air, leaving proof of the connection with the abyss just then.
Due to the shock of the pressure from the demon, the minds of the grand mages were still half frozen. It took them a moment to recover, and in this period of time the one thing that stuck in their minds was that middle finger from the legendary mage.
The grand mages struggled to get up one after another, and only then did they notice how terrible the legendary mage looked. She seemed to be even worse off than they were.
A part of her long hair had been singed, and her blue legendary magic robes were damaged everywhere. Her skirt was practically torn into rags, revealing more than half of her snow-white thighs. Signs of burns could be seen everywhere on her skin. The grand mages that had followed her after the Deepblue became peaceful had never seen her so pathetic before, and it was obvious it had been a difficult battle in the abyss.
Two grand mages that had entered Deepblue sixty years ago recalled ruefully, finding that they had seen her this terrible only during the third expansion of Deepblue. At that time, they had merely been young level twelve or thirteen mages, while Sharon herself was only level 16. Most of their memories of then were of war and smoke. Dwarves, orcs, werebeasts, and draconians had allied to attack the Deepblue one after the other, but had been defeated again and again.
The grey dwarves did not know magic, but amongst the orcs were many shamans and mages. While the draconians had the smallest numbers, they were known for their great battle might and powerful spells. At that point, Sharon often fought with countless enemies in the vast Everwinter Mountains, and when she returned to the Deepblue this was often the state she was in. However, at that time, regardless of what kind of dangers there had been, she was always beautiful and refined, and her eyes were as bright as they were now.
At level 16 Sharon had once left the draconian grand mages fleeing ignominiously. The two grand mages had then fought by her side, pursuing one for nearly a thousand kilometres. They had obtained countless valuable experiences in battle, and understood many secrets of magic. After Sharon officially became a grand mage, it was rare to see her fighting this hard. Once she became a legendary being, the Deepblue had become a forbidden area for many races in the north of the continent.
Having to bear witness to Sharon fighting that hard again naturally left them shocked.