Supreme Magus

The Gate opened in the bottom right corner of the room, allowing them to examine its contents. There were several thanks filled with a transparent liquid, similar to those Lith’s group had found in the first building.

One cylindrical tank held a female Tek in what they could only hope was a state of suspended animation. Her exoskeleton was pierced by tubes in several places, flooding her body with liquids of different colors.

The liquids’ nature was a mystery, but their purpose was as clear as the day. The poor creature was forced to produce eggs non-stop. Each one was the size of an orange and was made of a translucent pearly substance holding a smaller golden sphere at its center.

The second tank held another Tek that had to be a male. Based on the extra tube on his nether regions, he wasn’t faring any better than his unwilling breeding mate.

Another tank, this one shaped like an aquarium, contained several Tek younglings the size of a ten year old child. Their diet seemed to be based on defective Tek eggs, deformed Tek younglings, and the corpses of those who died in the constant struggle for food and space.

The white of their chitinous bodies looked blue due to all the Tek blood spilled inside the tank. The battle for survival was so fierce that the water filters weren’t capable to keep up with the bloodshed.

The younglings were currently chopping a newborn Tek with their pincers and eating its remains.

"This is a nightmare! Those poor creatures are being turned into cannibals, only the most ferocious and the strongest among them have any chance of survival." Her blade shone of a black light, ready to unleash several spells, but Lith stopped Phloria from crossing the threshold.

"We can’t risk triggering more alarms, also we don’t know if we can safely open the portal from the other side and get back into the caves." Lith said.

"Also, you have yet to explain to me what do you think happened after Syndra used Corona Discharge."

"As if you don’t know it already, but thanks." Phloria said while regaining her cool and clutching her estoc so hard that her knuckles turned white.

"The lightning must have struck in-between waves, otherwise you would have seen the Gates. That way, it could fry the Teks and destroy the runes.

"When the system attempted and failed to open the Gates again, it must have tried to open them in succession from the closest to the farthest, riding along the wave until it beat Corona Discharge to the punch and swallowed the spell."

"It makes sense." Lith nodded, trying to think about something to say to keep Phloria’s mind occupied. The procedure taking place in front of them was something disgusting to the point that any sane person would have their stomach churning.

’It must be because of people like the Odi that magical beasts prefer suicide and filicide to let themselves captured.’ He thought.

"What do you want to do, Captain Ernas?" Lith used her military rank, to remind her of their situation, but most importantly, of her status.

"If we go inside an activate traps that block even one of the elements, we might not be able to escape with dimensional magic. We can destroy the tanks from here, but there’s no telling what defensive mechanisms are in place."

"I had no intention of doing either." Phloria’s eyes were as cold as ice. "I just wanted to take a peek inside and check if we can use the ancient gates to raid the place. Arrays?"

Lith waved his hand, and several magical formations became visible to the naked eye.

"What the heck?" Phloria blurted out. There wasn’t a single centimeter of space covered by at least two arrays. "I recognize only the lighting and the self-cleaning array."

"Same. The others use runes too old for me to know them. Is there any you recognize?" Based on what Neshal had said, the same runes were used for both arrays and Forgemastering, so Lith had actually decent foundations for Runesmithing.

Or at least he hoped so.

"Yes. That is the ancient rune for fire." She pointed at a glowing character that resembled an English P.

"That is the rune for darkness..." The character resembled an M overlapping with an X.

"...and that one is the rune for air. The others I have no idea what they mean." If Lith had to describe it, he would compare the rune to something drawn by someone who sneezed with their pen on the paper.

"My paranoid guess is that fire is for intruders. Darkness is for the Teks, in the case they manage to escape, and air is an alarm." Lith said

"Agreed. Now we have to wait and see if the Gate has some defensive mechanism too. I wouldn’t be surprised if opening it by our side required some kind of convened signal." Phloria was cautious. Her spite for the Odi only made her more vigilant.

"Can you tell me if there’s any difference between ancient and modern runes?" Lith asked.

"Ancient runes were less efficient and more unstable. That’s all I can share with you without endangering Dad."

’Damn! Then both the ring and the sword are only good as teaching props. At least thanks to Phloria now I know the ancient runes for dimensional items. I can compare them with the modern ones I know and start experimenting already.’ Lith thought.

Just as Phloria predicted, after a handful of second the alarm array was triggered. It emitted a high pitched sound and activated the other arrays in the rooms as the dimensional door was closing.

"Well, the damage is done. We learned what we needed so we might as well crash this party for good." She unleashed her Tier five Mage Knight spell, Blade of Destruction before the Gate disappeared.

For a moment, Lith could see a great mass of darkness and lightning magic take form inside the room. Noises of shattering glass and screeching metal filled the air just for a split second.

The dimensional door was now sealed again and silence returned. Phloria damaged the dimensional rune on the wall she had just repaired to prevent further attacks from the "Meat Shields".

"I know that what I did was seemingly useless. The Teks in the tanks were probably comatose or raving mad and I doubt there’s only one such a room in Kulah. I did it because this way the smoke should point us to the right building." Phloria said.

"Our orders are to find and destroy anything that can harm the Griffon Kingdom and I think that a monster farm qualifies. I also did it because, orders or not, I can’t see such things and do nothing.

"I joined the army because I want to make a difference for the citizens of the Kingdom, humans and beasts alike. Some people might consider my actions just a drop in the ocean, but to me, it was saving them from a fate crueler than death."

Phloria opened a Warp Steps that brought the straight back to the camp. After showing to the Professors the arrays revealed by Lith’s spell and describing them the alarm mechanism, their next course of action became clear.