Hans and Lara poured their mana into Tornium.
Ziing!
Tornium let out its characteristically wild cry, and like a person on the verge of collapsing from dehydration gulping down water, it sucked in their mana. It then massively amplified the mana and, guided by their will, transferred it to Nowem’s body.
Kuruk! Nowem’s body wiggled. With his powers as a mythical beast, he slowly converted the rushing current of mana. Normally, a person couldn’t accept and store another person’s mana nor use it according to their own will. If that was possible, people wouldn’t place much importance on the amount of mana a person was naturally endowed with, and this same rule applied to a mythical beast like Nowem. Yet, at the very least, Nowem could change the mana that entered his body into earth mana and expel it from his body.
Like that, Nowem sent the mana with earth properties into Snoc, whom he was leaning his face against. Though the property of the mana had changed to one he was familiar with, Snoc also couldn’t control another person’s mana. Snoc could control Nowem’s mana as the person in a contract with the mythical beast, but the mana that was currently entering him wasn’t Nowem’s in the first place. The moment he expelled this mana, it wouldn’t be able to do anything but disappear into the air—unless he pushed the mana into something like the Brushel System’s restriction device. This device reacted to any mana, whatever it was. And once Snoc poured the mana into the device, he was able to control it due to his affinity with the mana’s earth properties.
“Follow me slowly.”
“Okay.”
Elena’s mana nudged some parts of the World Tree’s mana. Yet, the World Tree’s mana continued to cause havoc without any change. It was like she was trying to mold a piece of orichalcum or mithril with a rotting tree branch.
“Do you feel it?”
“Yeah.”
“First of all, I need to calm the mana on this side and make the flow more stable.”
“That won’t be easy.”
“That’s why I’m going through all this trouble.”
“Okay, let’s try it.”
Boom! Snoc’s mana tried to restrict the wildly fluctuating World Tree’s mana. Since his mana was mixed with Hans and Lara’s mana, it was much stronger than Elena’s. When it made contact, the World Tree’s mana showed a slight response.
“Mr. Hans and Ms. Lara, please give us a bit more mana!”
“All right!”
“Will do!”
More mana flowed in, and Snoc continued to press down the World Tree’s mana with that. Yet, he only made the movements of the World Tree’s mana duller and they didn’t reach a result that Elena was stirving for. Thus, Snoc expelled more mana and Tornium’s ringing became bigger. It was then, the World Tree’s mana stopped moving.
“Now! Move the mana this way!”
Elena’s mana moved the system’s passageway. Snoc moved the World Tree’s mana to follow Elena’s mana.
“Good, this place is now stabilized! Continue to restrict mana from there.”
“I understand.” So that the mana he had stabilized didn’t run wild again, Snoc left a part of his mana to repress it and used the rest to chase after Elena’s mana again. Although it was a very taxing task, Snoc skillfully completed it. This was the reason Elena had handed this task to Snoc.
“Snoc!”
“Yes!” Snoc began to lead in another wave of the World Tree’s mana.
“We need more mana!”
“Leave it to us!” The amount of mana that was poured into Nowem increased, and like a trainer trying to tame wild beasts, Snoc placed all his concentration into mana control. Like that, Elena and Snoc continued to stabilize the wildly fluctuating World Tree’s mana. Simultaneously, Elena adjusted the varying levels of mana and worked to restrict the device. Both their foreheads were covered in large beads of sweat. Nowem took the towel that Hans handed him with his sharp claws and carefully wiped the sweat off the two.
Wiiiing! They felt the device running. Although the majority of the World Tree’s mana was still madly fluctuating, Elena managed to form the least amount of stable mana flow she needed to activate the system’s specific function.
Their preparation to activate the device was complete, but Elena didn’t let down her guard. Snoc was barely managing to repress the World Tree’s mana with his own; if he let go, the World Tree’s mana would return to its previous state. Furthermore, they didn’t have much time, as the harshness of Snoc’s breathing indicated. Hans, Lara, and Nowem also began to feel the drain of using more mana than usual. In the first place, receiving and transferring other people’s mana was very unusual behavior and placed a huge burden on Snoc. Before they exhausted all their concentration and energy, they needed to wake Lyla up.
Elena’s mana targeted parts of the restriction device. She was basically working on a sandcastle that was about to crumble. Once the work began, Lyla’s memories could be wiped away from a single mishap. Elena had never concentrated so hard in her entire life. She only focused on carrying out the method transferred to her through the Key That Distorts Destiny and blocked everything else in her surroundings. Finally, she completed the last process, and the restriction device vibrated loudly.
Wiiing!
“Haaaa!” Elena let out a deep breath and collapsed to the floor. “You all can stop now. Good work, everyone.”
Everyone stopped pouring their mana in, and after a slight vibration, the restriction device fell into silence again.
“How is it? Did we succeed?” Snoc asked after collapsing next to her. Nowem returned back to his small size and climbed on top of Snoc’s shoulder again.
“I don’t know, but I did everything I could. I have to wait for the results.”
“What’s the possibility of success?”
“It’s half-half.”
“Half-half....” Hans repeated quietly. Then, he asked, “When will we know the results?”
“I don’t know that either. I only activated the system like Teacher told me to, but she said it wouldn’t take long if I succeeded....”
Suddenly, they felt a new flow of mana inside the ruin.
“Elena, what’s this mana?”
“I don’t know either.”
The mana was organizing itself, and the party tensed up after sensing that it was a considerable amount of mana.
“Maybe Ms. Lyla is here.”
“That’d be truly fortunate.”
Since they had no way of knowing who it was, they all clutched their weapons and warily eyed their surroundings. The flow of mana began to concentrate in one direction.
“Do you feel it, Hans? It’s the room with the teleportation circles.”
“No way. Our enemies didn’t restore the teleportation magic, right?”
“That can’t be the case. Since we’ve cut off the magic that keeps the teleportation magic, enemies can’t come over from the tower. Teacher confirmed it, so there’s no way that can happen.
“I see.” If Lyla had confirmed it, then enemies couldn’t have come from the tower.
“I think it’s true that someone came over here through teleportation.”
Koo!
Since it was impossible for enemies to come from the tower, someone completely different was using the teleportation magic again. Elena tried to think of someone who could do that—a skilled person who could remotely inject mana into a teleportation circle instantly and use it.
“Teacher?” As expected, the first person she thought of was Lyla. Elena was about to quickly run out to confirm if her teacher was really here, but Snoc grabbed her robe and stopped her.
“Calm down, Elena! We don’t know if it’s Lady Lyla for sure!”
“But Teacher is the only person who can carry out an unbelievable feat like this!”
“I’m not denying that either! But we have to be safe in case!”
“Snoc is right. There’s no harm in being careful.” As Hans backed Snoc’s opinion, Elena stopped moving.
Hans continued, “That doesn’t mean we must stay still here. We can go out to check, but we’ll have to tread carefully.”
The companions headed towards the room where the teleportation system was installed. The moment they arrived in the room, the mana’s movement was also reaching its peak. The magic circle, which had lost its light after the loss of mana supply, was now emitting a bright light once again. They all stared at the magic circle nervously and wondered whether Lyla would arrive as expected, or if enemies might have crossed over in an unexpected way—or if a completely new presence would appear. The light disappeared. The magic circle became completely still like when its mana supply was cut off.
They saw a figure above the magic circle. It was a person that they were all very familiar with; the most powerful mage in the world, their travel companion whom they hadn't seen in a while.
Lyla appeared in front of them.
“...Teacher?” Elena carefully called out to her. Her eyes trembled slightly. She wanted to immediately greet her, hug her, and enjoy a long-awaited reunion. However, concerns that she might have failed and Lyla lost her memories as a result held her back. Elena shuddered as she imagined Lyla’s eyes looking at her like a stranger.
Lyla looked at her, and Elena saw a faint smile on Lyla’s mouth.
“It’s been a while, Elena.” Lyla’s words instantly dispelled all of Elena’s concerns as well as the other party members watching them with nervous eyes.
Elena’s eyes were filled with tears, but there was a bright smile on her face. “Teacher!” She shot out and ran into Lyla’s arms.
“There, there. You’ve worked hard.” Lyla patted Elena’s back, and the others quietly watched them. They were also glad to see Lyla, but they didn’t want to interrupt a tearful reunion between a disciple and teacher.
Lyla grabbed Elena by the shoulders and propped her up. “Now, Elena. Let’s make up for it later. We still have work to do.”
Lyla dragged Elena to where the others were.
“It’s been a while, Lady Lyla. I’m glad to see you in good health.” Hans greeted Lyla first and Snoc and Lara also greeted her after. Nowem also welcomed Lyla by lifting his short front legs.
“It’s been a while, everyone. Let’s catch up later, Zich’s side is in trouble right now.”
“I heard that Glen Zenard has been revived,” Hans said as he glanced at Lara, but Lara seemed to have completely cut off her lingering affection for Glen as her face looked calm.
“Both Zich and I completely miscalculated. I didn’t expect him to use the World Tree’s mana. I underestimated his obsession—no, it’s unfair to say that I underestimated him. How could anyone have expected him to overcome that intense fear, no matter how obsessive he was?” Lyla’s last words were more to herself than to the others.
“Anyway, no matter how great Zich and his party are, they can’t hold on like this. That’s how great the World Tree’s mana is. Rather, the fact that Zich and his party held on for so long shows how great they are.”
“Teacher, are you going to stop Glen Zenard from using the World Tree’s mana?” Elena asked.
“Unfortunately, that’s not possible. He’s too closely connected with the World Tree right now, to the extent that it’s impossible to control the World Tree mana with just the control device.”
“Then how will we...”
Lyla stood in front of the control device. After fully regaining her memory, the device was all too familiar to her. “If we can’t cut off their connection, we can supply our side with an equal amount of strength.”
“Are you planning to supply Sir Zich with the World Tree’s power?” Hans asked.
“Yeah.”
“Is that possible?”
“It’s impossible in principle, but we’ll have to trust it.” Lyla looked down at Windur, which came back out into the world with her and continued, “We’ll see how strong the World Tree’s will is to be free.”