With Emery's current spirit force and spirit reading's capability, he could clearly get a clear picture of the surrounding area as far as 50 miles away. Furthermore, this benchmark of distance was also the range of which his spatial date could be freely employed.
From the information that he took from the academy database, Emery found out that planet Kultrumak where he was currently at has a radius about 4000 miles, a number that is surprisingly similar to Earth.
This meant that Emery would need roughly 800 spatial gates in order to port his way around the planet.
Things would turn for the better if Emery could prepare the stone formation, which would then allow him to cover five times the range his [Spatial Gate] capable of. Unfortunately, he did not have that many stones to allow him to accomplish such a feat; he only had enough for a few.
Considering how the distance his [Spatial Gate] could cover was a crucial aspect for the success of the plan, Emery share this information to Annara
A look of surprise appeared on Annara's face when Emery told her about this capability of his. She didn't expect the latter to be able to cover such a distance; 50 miles was actually a startling range for someone like Emery who is a rank 8 acolyte. After all, she as a high stage rank 9 acolyte could only sense about the same range.
However, this was still not enough as even the lowest of the rung magus could sense as far as 100 miles. Hence to be on the safe side, Annara needed the two of them to maintain at least a 200 miles distance when they went on their tailing act.
With that distance, even if one of the magus in the group was still able to sense them, Annara was sure that nothing would happen as they would have the same signature as most of the mid-level creatures lurking and roaming in the forest.
Hence, the gist of the plan was as soon as the magus group left the settlement, Annara would immediately release her bat familiars to the wild. Each bat could easily cover dozens of miles distance, and with her innate [Sonic Echoes], the school of bats would send out information from one another to their location just like a relay.
Emery watched Annara as she closed her eyes, probably connecting with her familiars. A few moments later, she opened them again and said, "Alright, they're already 200 miles away. Let's go."
The two, who had prepared themselves since the magus group made their move, immediately walked out of the settlement. And before Emery cast the [Spatial Gate], the crimson-haired girl cast a powerful tier 5 spell.
[Void Barrier]
This is a spell that would allow anything in the radius of several meters around her to basically go under detection, from the eyes, and from any senses. While continuing to channel the spell, Annara and Emery swiftly entered the gate the latter had cast and appeared 50 miles away from the settlement.
The reason Annara needed Emery's help was that she was unable to use this spell indefinitely as it drained too much spirit energy and was too taxing for her spirit pool to handle in a long period of time.
Thankfully, now that Emery was here, she only had to use it with every jump they did with [Spatial Gate], in order to make sure they weren't detected when they inadvertently crossed the 200 miles distance limit they agreed upon before.
With the speed at which the magus group was moving, the two had to use the combination of their spells every 10 to 15 minutes to make sure they were not left in the dust. The plan seemed to be working as intended as they managed to follow the former without being detected.
However, fate seemed to prepare something for the two, not allowing them to have a smooth process.
After a few jumps, this time while the two were hiding within the thickets and waiting for the magus group to move again, a creature suddenly emerged from the ground several foot from their location.
[Graboid]
[Level 60 magic beast]
[Battle power 120]
It was a roughly 6 meter long worm-like creature with solid stone-like skin. Having emerged from the moist ground in the deep forest, it stood on its two short feet while its face that has four jaws, one on the top and the remaining three positioned linearly below it, turned to and fro.
The creature did not seem to have anything that resembled that of arms, hence Emery concluded that its jaws were its main weapon.
The two watched as the creature swept the surrounding area, hoping that it would not notice them because they couldn't afford to be entangled by it. Unfortunately, the creature sense not with eyes, but with a slight tremble of the ground by emery step, it turned its head in direction to him.
The next second, the creature shot toward the thickets where they were hiding. It actually came in at such speed that Emery was forced to use [Blink] to dodge away; it also literally emerged several feet away from them.
Two immediately got into action because they knew they had to end things quickly if they still wanted to tail Magus Leon and the others. Unexpectedly, Annara had to exert her full strength to restrain the creature with her whip, while Emery's sword was unable to pierce its skin and only made a few scratches.
Seeing that the skin was a no-go, Emery decided to attack the only weak point he could see – inside its mouth. However, when his sword was about to land and pierce through its jaw, multiple long tentacle-like tongues suddenly came out.
Even though Emery knew they didn't have much time, he didn't want to act recklessly either. Therefore, instead of forcing his attack and risk being injured by this queer group of tongues, he directed his sword at the latter and even employed a skill.
[Heroic Strike]
Splat!! A flash of light appeared momentarily, which was quickly followed by a fountain of blood.
After its tongues were cut into pieces, the creature fell to the ground as it shrieked in pain. Emery quickly put out its misery by sending a [Dark Matter], obliterating it from inside out.
Seeing how Emery looked satisfied with killing the monster, Annara flashed a smile as she said, "You just killed a baby Graboid, so make sure not to portal near the mother next."
The two immediately returned to what they were here for because Annara's familiar told her that Magus Leon and the others had gotten far from them.
***
After two dozen more jumps through the [Spatial Gate], Annara finally opened her mouth again.
"They have stopped! It's time for us to get closer to them."
Like what she had been doing previously, Annara pointed her finger at one o'clock direction and said, "It's about 230 miles in this direction. Remember to do it slowly, 50 miles at a time."
Emery nodded as a response and quickly opened up another [Spatial Gate] for the day. Annara also cast [Void Barrier] again, and both of them quickly stood in front of the portal. Just as they were about to enter, Emery suddenly said something that made Annara stop in her steps.
"Thank you Annara, and I am sorry."
The girl did not even have a chance to say a word as Emery already pushed her into the open gate and closed it in the next second.
Emery had just sent her 50 miles in the direction opposite of where Magus Leon and the others were. This would take her at least 10 minutes to reach where he is, and more than an hour to the location.
With this, Emery was confident he would have enough time to prepare. Making sure there was any hostile through spirit reading, he took out an item and swiftly put it on his wrist.
This was something that he had specifically prepared for the mission – the only way that could make Klea agree to let him go on this.
[Bracelet of Anu]
[Artifact – tier 5]
[Enchantment boost]
It was the bracelet that Klea found in the Egypt pyramid, which she had forced Emery to borrow and learn throughout the night before his departure.
Stroking the bracelet with a gentle look on his face, Emery proceeded to focus his concentration on the bracelet and started employing his spirit reading ability to create some kind of mental block around him, blurring his presence to the lowest possible level and making himself overall more difficult to perceive.
It took him a few minutes to make sure the mental block was working as intended, and when he felt he was ready, he immediately created a portal and entered inside.
Emery made his way towards where Magus Leon and the others were, and just like Annara's suggest, 50 miles at a time.