Chapter 184 Remaining Time
The group kept moving at night after hearing that. Sauros still was confident that it was impossible for them to know the key to the barrier. Still, it was odd that one of the keys was heading toward them quite fast.
After three days, the group reached the halfway point toward their destination. Alongside that, they found a problem. A lot of enemy soldiers were traveling southward as well, imagining that their leader was probably going into a trap. Moreover, he was only one day away, so they were in a hurry.
"Using the roads now will be difficult," Sauros said. "Still, I believe that we should reach the capital before the generals arrive to save us from the hassle of dealing with them."
"It isn\'t like they all were covering the same distance. Some of them might have arrived," Aion said. "If a fight breaks out, the others will be informed of that, and they will hurry as well."
"You have a point, but if we take our time with this, who knows for how long they will try to open the Barrier," Sauros said. "This might take weeks, and every day we stay near them is another day we risk giving the enemies the opportunity to find us."
Aion was actually fine in dashing ahead to save time. He just said that in order to make them aware of the possibility. In any case, he also considered that they could take down the generals one after the other in order to avoid them getting close to the barrier. He didn\'t know what the ruler of that kingdom had learned after studying magic for a while. Still, he knew that they couldn\'t take any risks when it came to their goal…
If they hurried up, Aion was confident that they could reach the capital in one day and a half. Still, the issue was the fact that the general was in a hurry, and he was changing carriages along the way, so his movement speed was quite high. Aion and the others will have only a day of advantage over that general. If the others were doing the same, then they were in a race against time.
"Royal blood is the key to opening the Barrier, right?" Aion asked. "Can\'t you guys take a bit of mine to open the Barrier? I want to make a diversion that will lure the generals."
"The blood must be alive for that to work… it has to be fresh and still leaving the wound. That won\'t work," Sauros said. "Maybe I should have asked for the others to create a diversion in the coast… but I guess it would be suspicious if only a single ship attacked."
"Let\'s forget about that and focus on what we can do," Seris said. "This will make you get mentally tired, but I will use my power to make you recover mana faster."
"Your power certainly is convenient… Are you sure that you guys can use that freely?" Aion asked while frowning.
"Yes, many people over the ages checked the limits of our power, but nothing was found," Sauros explained. "We didn\'t get sick or older faster than the others. The only downside is the kids that have half of our blood only manage to be as half as effective as the others in comparison."
That was convenient… to the point that Aion wondered if they weren\'t like him and had the blood of that guy that fought alongside his ancestor. That would explain a lot… in any case, thanks to Seris\' help, Aion managed to make Meditation improve a lot. They crossed around seventy percent of the remaining path in a single night. Still, Aion was forced to stop since he was mentally exhausted, and the platform was trembling while flying. In the morning, they stopped until noon, and then they resumed their journey to reach their destination around dinner time.
The capital of the Everia kingdom was massive. Despite that, it didn\'t have any walls, and the city was still being expanded every day. While the houses and buildings built with wood and stone barely had any order or semblance to each other, at least they were built while considering the streets and the districts they were in. Even at night, Aion could see thousands of people coming and going… the whole place was at least three times bigger than the capital of the Zaera kingdom, which housed around half a million people.
In the central part of the city, one could find two things that really stood out. One of them was a gigantic but rough castle that was one kilometer long and wide and had at least seven floors, made of rough but sturdy stone, and on the side, there was an empty area. It was supposed to be empty because the barrier couldn\'t be seen.
In the center of that place, they could see a small building, and the temple was probably below it. While they were there, they noticed hundreds of people walking around that area and at least fifty guards guarding the castle and the barrier at a single point where the entrance was supposed to be.
"I guess we won\'t enter the temple quietly…" Aion said and then sighed.
"We should wait until late in the night to check again," Sauros said. "Aion needs to rest, and we will use that time to check how many generals have arrived already."
The group landed in a dark alley, and then they looked for an inn. It didn\'t take long for them to find it since the place was always bustling with visitors. In any case, while the others were gathering Intel, Aion was resting on a bed. He knew that no matter what, the chances of them invading the temple without being noticed were close to zero. Aion could try with Furtivity, but if the enemies managed to find the barrier entrance, they would be able to notice his approach… they needed a diversion.
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