"That damned fossil! We need to find him!" Balin was beyond himself with rage. He could not believe that the surveillance he placed on Eon turned out to be so weak in the end.
There were three different mages and two assassins in charge of keeping watch and reporting suspicious matters such as a disturbance in space. Yet, they all failed. Not one of them noticed a thing.
Balin's team which was usually always cheery and acted like family was overcome by a cloud of gloom. It couldn't be helped, that was the king Eon had!
After being sent to this dungeon by the Prince, Bosque Adelio the Second, there was no way Balin felt motivated to follow him. He sincerely wished for the recovery of his majesty and Eon seemed to be working against that goal.
The ones under him thought similarly leading to this gloomy atmosphere.
"Sir, do we find him?" Ray asked with a sharp glint. His eyes shone with the determination of a hunter to find his prey.
Balin let out a tired breath and rubbed his eyes. It took him a second to respond to the question.
"Can we get him?" Balin asked Ray who stiffened. He was hesitating to come up with a response.
Balin slouched back on his chair. It was made of the grass underneath him. His ability to control plants certainly allowed him and others around him to live comfortably.
"...Let's continue as planned" Balin said with much unwillingness. Life had dealt him a dirty hand. He never had it easy but these last few weeks were really standing out even amongst all of his bad times.
Every decision was grueling and could affect the lives of not just himself and his company but that of those outside of the dungeon and the kingdom. Yet not enough people were concerned over the matter, the only advocate for the subjugation of the dungeon was Count Flamewood.
"I'll tell the scouts" Siar who was also inside of the tent said before standing up from his seat
Fortunately, at this time an assassin returned to camp. This was Explorer who dashed off as soon as he realized Eon was not there to help. He delivered his urgent news to Siar who passed them on to Balin and the other squad captains.
Balin and the other squad captains listened intently. The information would have helped greatly if they still intended to chase after Eon but... They all turned to look at Balin, was it possible for him to change plans?
The atmosphere became tense as the knights who all felt were bested by Eon wanted to chase after him. Balin however still thought it wouldn't be a good idea.
"We'll go after Eon" Balin nevertheless declared deeply with a solemn expression before standing up from his seat.
"Sir…?" "What is it?" "Hm?" The squad captains all reacted differently after seeing Balin stand up but the confusion in each of their tones remained the same.
"We are heading off right now" Balin was an experienced commander. He had done many dungeon subjugation missions before. This wasn't his first.
Depending on the size and difficulty the subjugation team would be recommended to create bases and outposts in key areas that could facilitate the travel of people and supplies.
This was the way. It was a method that could not fail. Unless there was a time limit… in which case the method would fail. Balin didn't dare to loiter around any longer. To be frank, he never liked the idea of a superior always sending out orders as if it was beneath them.
"Listen up! Catching Eon requires all hands on deck! I don't want any slackers!" Balin was an experienced commander. The experience came with age and with age came wisdom.
This however applied to Eon more so than himself. Eon was crafty and a menace. It was impossible for a 100+-year-old hermit to not have killed a couple of hundred people at least.
Similarly, Eon was bound to be eccentric. The wisdom of age could also drive one to the brink of madness. The hunger for power, or the hunger for eternal life. These two things were a common evil that boiled down to human greed.
Eon was, therefore, in a way, the embodiment of age old regret and greed. He was dangerous and unhinged.
"Yes Sir!" "As you wish!" "AYE!" The responses were lively and emotional. They were varied, they were individuals. This seemed small, but among the royal companies, only Balin granted this privilege.
"Some of you will die" Balin was not willing to face this truth, he wasn't willing to let these people make these sacrifices but Eon was not their ally, he was a neutral evil. There would be no negotiation the next time they met as Eon had already made it very clear that he only intended to coerce them.
The camp grew silent.
"Hah…" Balin let out a small chuckle. He couldn't even put it past Eon to ally with the monsters, as ridiculous as the thought appeared to be.
This chuckle broke the silence and snapped some of the squad captains out of their solemn daze.
"Set off in 30 minutes!" "Chop Chop" They all got to work and Balin stood tall like a hardy tree watching over them.
***
The white-bearded old man Eon himself was currently preoccupied hiding his joy to even feel his tingling nose.
The orc he followed was taking him closer and closer to a spot with high magic activity! A space magician had to be sensitive to changes in space and this required being sensitive to mana on its own.
'There must be crystals' Lots of crystals, or at the very least plenty of crystals. Crystal mines of any kind were a rarity and while Eon had never found a crystal mine chucked full of space crystals it didn't mean that one of any other elements would be useless to him.
Eon was also an enchanter for example. He had created many unique robes for each of his disciples. Outside of that, he also manufactured many unique devices used through not just the Bosque Kingdom, but even those neighboring it. The Spatial Comm was such an example.
They used not just the element of space but the elements of water and wind. Earth and Fire were not obsolete either. Even Lightning was uninmaginably helpful for creating magic devices. Overall, Eon was stoked to find out what type of device or enchant he would be able to conjure up.
"Cough- A- Argh..! Ur- urgh…" His excitement almost made him forget his sickly state. Eon collapsed to his knees. He started to puke out crimson red blood, enough so that his beard got dyed red.
"Hm?" W who was walking ahead stopped for a second after sensing something. Though sense was perhaps the wrong word. It was an instinct.
He looked behind and at the forest ground and noticed nothing. There were just crumbled leaves of brown and red hues to be seen cluttered on the ground.
W turned away failing to realize the distant cluster of bloodied leaves. His mind was instead kicked into overdrive as he entered the mouth of the ogre cavern. He didn't even spare the small plantation of Alivio Herbs any mind as he wanted to reach Blurak as soon as orcishly possible.
Eon who followed behind only held a subtle sinister smile. The plantation outside confirmed that the intelligent being lived at this cavern. He could finally kill that crude being. He followed after it, or he tried to…
"It sure vanished quickly. haha- Cough… argh…" Eoe wanted to chuckle at the orc's simplicity. It obviously felt it was nearing safety so it dashed in.
"This place has been picked clean…" Eon muttered after turning the first corner in the cavern. It allowed him to see a vast expanse of rock. There were occasionally glittering crystals darted about and the soft crystal dust, magic dust, which was harmful to the lungs was floating around.
"The creature is ignorant" Eon added to his observations. Eon left prints of magic dust on the floor as had done the orc. The main difference was that Eon's light and firm footsteps made no sound and his figure was hidden. It was as if a ghost was walking by.
This ghost that continued to admire the atmosphere then grew solemn. Eon's ability to go invisible was similar to being inside of a vehicle. It was a bizarre comparison but with the windows rolled up and the air conditioner keeping him at the preferred temperature he wasn't able to notice the noise outside or the strong smell of blood.
"T- This is the boss room!" If it wasn't for his old age Eon would breakout into a dance. He picked up his pace and continued down the winding cavern. The pressure that the boss gave only increased and increased raising the expectations of Eon.
"It must be a great figure!" He yelled with a wide grin inside of his isolated space. A secret formula for immotaity? A sacred fruit? There were none! Eon didn't believe in such b*llshit!
He only believed in his own or others' proven experiences. He knew for a fact that Augustus Galeburst, old ruler of the Galeburst dynasty, had been revived in the dungeon. The bosses were most likely than not slaves to the dungeon but again… so what?
Eon didn't being used if it could give him a longer life. He would also be using the other party so there were no downsides.
The cavern had grown dark as the crystals had dwindled in number but at last, Eon could catch a glimpse of clarity.. Eon ran towards the light.