The Archmetamagician: The Weave Collapses Again

Anser was tempted by the experience points from the Mind Flayer, but he didn’t rashly go out.

The other party was already so cautious even when dealing with injured professionals—how much more so toward a complete stranger? Rushing over to help, even if he revealed his identity as a Paladin, wouldn’t earn trust anytime soon.

Come to think of it, there was still a Mind Flayer imprisoned in the Black Tower.

He had originally been an adventurer who came to Durlag with Matthew, named Fulgar. After being parasitized, he was locked up in the Union prison, and later transferred by Anser into the Black Tower.

Despite going without food or water for so many days, he had still successfully transformed into a Mind Flayer. However, without brains to consume, he couldn’t grow further and remained extremely weak.

Even so, this newly born Mind Flayer was very clever. More than once, it had tried to attract his attention, racking its brain for ways to escape the blackstone cell.

Anser completely ignored it. He neither killed it nor interacted with it—only observed in silence.

The cell was extremely sturdy. Even a fully matured Mind Flayer wouldn’t be able to escape, unless it seized the Rod of Security in his hand. Otherwise, even plane shifting would be useless.

This was both his experimental subject and a backup experience pool—something to kill when he was just short of leveling up.

While thinking, he directed the Arcane Eye through the crowd, sending it toward the interior wreckage of the nautiloid.

Before it could get close to the floating inverted pyramid, a streak of spiritual light swept across. The Arcane Eye was instantly revealed—and then dissipated in an instant.

Before his vision vanished, several spellcasters wearing court-style robes suddenly looked over, their eyes filled with vigilance.

Anser was startled. ’So it can do that too.’

The scouting failed, but he wasn’t discouraged. He stood up, preparing to test whether his newly conceived relay teleportation strategy would work.

He went to a corner of the basement, opened his spellbook, and cast Teleportation Circle according to the rune sequence of the astral orrery array.

Layer upon layer of patterns spread beneath his feet. Some lines were straight and forceful, others intricate like blooming flowers. As node after node lit up, streams of light burst forth from the array before gradually subsiding.

Anser took a deep breath and decisively activated the teleportation circle. The Rod of Security trembled slightly, and a glowing oval portal quietly formed.

Through the portal, the empty room of the Black Tower came into view.

’It worked!’

With this, he no longer needed to set up a return circle. He could freely travel between the Rock of Bral and White Stone Island at any time—and there would be even more destinations in the future.

There was no need to worry about security either. Holrewen was protected by powerful divination magic. Without the Rod of Security, no teleportation spell could enter or leave.

With a wave of his hand, the portal closed. The spell ended, leaving only a faint trace of magic on the ground.

He pulled up his character sheet. More than half of his Magic Power remained—enough to support a small-scale battle.

’Let’s go take a look. See if there’s an opportunity.’

He left the basement and made his way to the third-floor terrace. Two to three hundred meters away, flames lit up half the sky—an eye-catching sight.

Unfortunately, the stone building’s angle was poor, and most of the scene was blocked by other structures.

So he simply climbed onto the roof, standing atop the pointed peak to look down at the distance. From there, he could just make out the crashed nautiloid and the floating inverted pyramid.

However, while he was watching the excitement, the perimeter guards also noticed him.

Still, they didn’t react much—after all, there were quite a few onlookers like him nearby.

Anser scanned the surroundings. In distant windows and on rooftops, faint silhouettes could be seen peeking out, blending into the night. Without careful observation, they were hard to notice.

’Heh, watching the spectacle really is an adventurer’s instinct.’

Compared to him, the other adventurers were more low-key. Few stood as high as he did.

But he had no choice—if he didn’t get higher, he couldn’t see anything.

The battle to exterminate the Mind Flayers was still ongoing. Fewer and fewer professionals were being carried out injured. Groups of soldiers in silver armor continuously brought out several Mind Flayer corpses, while the bodies of Intellect Devourer numbered as many as twenty or thirty.

Anser felt an itch in his heart as he watched, hesitated for a long while, but in the end still didn’t go up to volunteer himself.

But he felt that the Union really ought to establish diplomatic relations with the Rock of Bral!

At the very least, getting acquainted would be good. When necessary, he would be willing to offer his friends a bit of insignificant help.

”Hey, Fabian—”

He was still lost in his thoughts when a suppressed yet familiar voice came from the alley below.

He was slightly startled and swept his gaze downward, but didn’t spot anyone at first.

”I’m over here.”

A corner of the wall shrouded in darkness seemed to ”wriggle” slightly, and a small, thin figure revealed himself, sporting a distinctive short beard.

Who else could it be but Osborn?

Anser raised an eyebrow—this was perfect, he happened to need a guide to learn what had happened over the past two days.

He jumped down onto the terrace and beckoned to Osborn.

Osborn ran over quickly, his footsteps completely silent. Reaching the base of the stone building, he leapt upward, lightly braced a hand against the second-floor balcony, and easily vaulted onto the third-floor terrace.

Light as a feather, landing without a sound.

”Impressive. Your agility’s just as strong as your stealth—I didn’t even notice you just now,” Anser praised sincerely.

You had to know, this stone building wasn’t like the cramped, low-ceilinged housing from his previous life. Each floor was over three and a half meters high, and the slabs were extremely thick.

Jumping straight up to the third floor with only a slight assist in between—his strength was obvious. Probably just a notch below a monk.

”Heh, nothing special.” Osborn stroked his short beard, looking pleased. ”And that’s not even what I’m best at.”

Anser smiled and nodded.

If you asked what a rogue’s strongest ability was—not stealth, then it was most likely sleight of hand.

”Weren’t you heading back to the Forgotten Realms? What are you doing here watching the excitement?” Osborn caught sight of the Arcane Lock on the doors and windows and couldn’t help feeling curious.

He had been watching from afar as well. From a distance, he’d spotted someone standing on the rooftop of the stone building—the faint prismatic glow around that person had felt strangely familiar, so he’d come over to take a look.

”I came back again. Just got back, and it already looks like something big happened here,” Anser explained.

”You’re saying—you returned to Faerûn and then came back again, all within less than three days?” Osborn was astonished.

”Teleportation circle, remember? I told you about it,” Anser said, spreading his hands.

”You’re the truly impressive one. The Weave is in this state, and you’re not affected at all,” Osborn exclaimed.

”It’s not that complicated. I’ll explain it to you later. What happened here?” Anser pointed at the distant blaze.

”You know about mind flayers?”

”Yeah—also called illithids.”

”Right. A few days ago, a nautiloid docked in the harbor district. Its purpose was unclear, and the ones who came out to purchase supplies were a few adventurers…” Osborn quickly recounted what had happened over the past few days.

Those adventurers claimed the nautiloid had been seized, but no one believed them—their strength was far below that of the mind flayers.

The guard force placed the nautiloid under strict surveillance and reported it to the royal family, but no clear orders came down.

Osborn speculated that it wasn’t that the royals didn’t take it seriously—they had discovered the presence of mind flayers, so they secretly mobilized the Royal Guard and court mages, and contacted the Mage Guild to prepare to take down the nautiloid.

That inverted pyramid-shaped magic item came from the Mage Guild—he had seen it more than once.

But before either side could make a move, a group of Githzerai suddenly appeared and launched an attack on the nautiloid.

They were clearly well-prepared and extremely strong, suppressing the mind flayers throughout the battle, and they destroyed the spelljamming helm at the very start.

However, the mind flayers also had reinforcements—a larger nautiloid suddenly descended upon the Rock of Bral.

Unfortunately for them, after rescuing their companions and breaking out of the encirclement, they ran straight into the hastily established royal blockade.

Since the nautiloid couldn’t teleport away and was intercepted by other spelljamming ships, it was ultimately destroyed by the joint forces of the royal family and the Githzerai…

’If only I had arrived just a little earlier.’ Anser felt a deep sense of regret.

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