Chapter 162 – The Great Summoning Formation (2)

Gravity ability user Diane and the Black Knight.

The two who once showed tremendous power appeared no different from their first meeting on the outside, but in Sun-woo’s eyes, they had changed considerably.

There was Sun-woo’s perspective that had risen much higher than before, but Diane and the Black Knight themselves were certainly different from before.

After becoming super absolute, Sun-woo’s ki sense developed further.

Now he was at a level where he could grasp the condition of the person in front of him.

Diane looked very unstable mentally.

Her gaze swayed left and right, and she kept biting her nails to the point one could tell she was anxious without even examining her ki sense.

And Black Knight Hexen was like the embers remaining in a dying candle.

Though his body’s strength remained the same, the vitality within seemed to be breathing its last breath.

He had felt it once before, but really it seemed like not much time was left now.

However, Sun-woo didn’t bring up such words to the two.

Surely the two must know their situation better than anyone.

“Fortunately, both of you agreed to go together. I want to go too, but given the position, it’s difficult to leave outside the city.”

Caroline let out a regretful sigh.

She had come to this city as the representative of the defectors.

She also wanted to move with Sun-woo, but it wasn’t easy for the representative of the defectors to leave the city and move around carelessly.

In such a situation, Diane and the Black Knight, ability users among the city’s top few fingers, would certainly be of great help to Sun-woo.

Sun-woo swallowed his anxiety and greeted them.

After all, their outwardly displayed abilities were impressive.

“It’s been a while. To be more pleased by a summoner from another dimension is quite depressing.”

“Instead of that, how about trying to get along more together?”

“It can’t be helped. I find it strange that you people get along well with them.”

Diane still seemed to hate the Scavengers.

At her uncompromising words, Caroline shook her head, and the spatial ability user standing on one side pretended not to hear and did something else.

The Black Knight standing next to Diane nodded and acknowledged Sun-woo, and Sun-woo also waved his hand in greeting.

They immediately moved to perform spatial movement.

Though they had many curious things about each other after meeting after a long time, spatial movement came first.

“Be careful. Since finding Hayden is the goal, please avoid fighting as much as possible.”

Leaving Caroline’s worries behind, Sun-woo and Clara, along with Diane and the Black Knight, performed spatial movement together with the spatial ability user.

***

The spatial movement was completed safely.

The five people appeared at that very place where Clara had performed spatial movement.

A desolate plain mixed halfway with sand.

The spatial ability user questioned Sun-woo and Diane who were looking around.

“When should I come back? The previous team took one day…”

In the middle of speaking, remembering that only Clara returned alive from the previous team, he couldn’t continue his words.

Diane and Sun-woo looked at each other.

The two knew the other had the ability to move earth and adjust gravity.

“We should be fine with about a day too.”

“I think the same.”

After confirming Diane thought the same, Sun-woo asked the spatial ability user to come back in one day.

“Then I’ll come back at this time tomorrow. Mr. Sun-woo, take care.”

The spatial ability user gave Sun-woo a final greeting then immediately disappeared.

Whoosh.

Only the awkward party remained in the desolate wasteland, but they had urgent matters to handle.

“After separating from Hayden, did he say anything about what to do if he couldn’t return?”

At Sun-woo’s question, Clara shook her head.

“Then where do you think Hayden, who remained alone, would go, Miss Clara?”

Sun-woo first excluded the case where Hayden died, and also excluded the case where he was captured.

If captured, there would be only one place to go.

“If he hid himself… He probably went back to that bizarre ruins in the desert. He surely believes I’ll bring you and others, Mr. Sun-woo.”

Sun-woo also agreed with Clara’s words.

And besides that place, it was impossible to find Hayden in this wasteland and desert.

Moving while checking the earth’s memory would take too much time, and the sand wasn’t in place, making it difficult to check.

The party decided to go to the ruins where the summoning formation was carved.

Once they decided on their goal, they needed to find a way to get there. Diane first demonstrated her ability and opened her mouth.

“It’s hard to levitate four people in the air for long. About this much is what I can maintain continuously…”

The party could feel their bodies became very light. Like astronauts floating on the moon, it seemed like only a quarter of their body weight remained.

“That’s enough. As long as we don’t fall into quicksand.”

As Sun-woo’s words ended, exclamations burst from Clara and Diane’s mouths.

Their bodies began smoothly moving forward.

The earth and sand around the party were flowing forward like a river.

The party was moving forward together, carried by the flowing earth and sand.

A river made of earth and sand began forming in the ordinary wasteland.

While the party moved forward, their bodies gradually sank downward.

Sun-woo immediately made the party sit on the ground, and when they sat, they stopped sinking with their bottoms half submerged in sand.

“Wow, this is amazing. This is my first time experiencing this.”

Clara, who seemed to forget her worries for a moment, scooped up flowing sand in her palm.

Diane also looked at the leisurely flowing scenery, seeming to let go of worries at least for this moment.

Only the Black Knight’s expression inside his helmet couldn’t be known.

When people seemed to have gradually adapted, Sun-woo looked around at the party and shouted.

“Everyone hold tight. It’s going to get a bit fast.”

At Sun-woo’s words, the Black Knight and Diane, who were confident in their experience as summoners, nodded halfheartedly, but Clara, who had experience passing through here with Hayden, lowered her body with a stiff expression.

And then,

Kwaaaaang!

The river of sand became fierce rapids.

“Kyaaah!”

Immediately after, Diane’s scream moved away at tremendous speed.

***

Several hours later, Sun-woo’s party could arrive at that very place where Hayden had stopped the party.

The arrived party immediately sprawled on the ground and collapsed.

Diane was held in the Black Knight’s arms with a half-dazed appearance.

Even Clara, who made preparations, became exhausted covered entirely in sand.

Though Clara held up well at first, before long she too became caught in the rapids of sand.

It was because Diane, startled by the rapids, lost concentration and the anti-gravity broke.

Thanks to that, except for Sun-woo, the entire party came here with the feeling of swimming riding the sand.

“Surely going back won’t be this way too, right?”

Barely raising her body, Clara asked Sun-woo. For her, it was an experience she never wanted to have again.

Diane, who had been continuously ignoring Clara, also forced herself up at her question and looked at Sun-woo.

Even her hatred for the Scavengers seemed unable to surface at least for this moment.

“I didn’t know Miss Diane would be that surprised. But there’s not really an alternative… If we move slowly, the time won’t match either.”

Hearing Sun-woo’s words, Clara could burn with enthusiasm to rescue Hayden again.

Though Hayden’s telekinetic carpet was also quite an uncomfortable means of transportation, she never wanted to be caught in those sand rapids again.

Clara told the party about the telekinetic tent used when coming here with Hayden, and it brought strength to Diane’s eyes, which had been slightly out of it.

Diane didn’t want to fall into those rapids again as much as Clara. No, even more than that.

Even the Black Knight stood up abruptly after hearing Clara’s story and checked his equipment.

When he stood up and tapped the black armor with his hands, sand poured out from between the armor.

While sand poured out, seeing several of the patterns throughout the armor glow faintly, it seemed to be a kind of magic armor.

It took quite some time until the party could move again.

After barely composing themselves about ten minutes later, the party began moving toward the red pillar of light visible in the distance.

“But is it okay to just walk like this?”

When the party started walking, Clara asked Sun-woo with a worried expression.

When she came with Hayden, they even created sandstorms to barely approach close to the ruins.

But this party was just walking as if taking a stroll.

“It’s fine. The enemy hasn’t discovered us yet. And I’ve taken my own measures, so don’t worry.”

Only then could Clara recall the numerous abilities of Sun-woo that Hayden mentioned.

At Sun-woo’s words, Diane and knight Hexen also looked around.

Looking closely, the heat haze in front of the party was quite large and distinct.

With an appearance like erecting a wall made of water, the party realized Sun-woo’s measure was that heat haze.

As they thought, the shimmering wall of air spread before the party was Sun-woo’s work.

He gathered moisture in the air with water magic and imitated heat haze with fire magic.

He cast an illusion on that heat haze so that to the party it was just heat haze, but from the opposite side, a kind of mirage phenomenon showed an empty desert in a distant place.

Though it might be a bit awkward, it was enough to be considered a mirage.

Hiding behind the mirage and approaching the ruins like that, the party saw the scene Clara and Hayden had witnessed.

The huge summoning magic formation drawn with blood filling the ruined site, and the red pillar of light rising from the magic formation.

However, the corpses said to have been placed on the magic formation were no longer visible.

Only a few giant bones and the tremendous flood of dried blood indicated there had been corpses here.

“It’s not finished yet.”

Sun-woo, who was surprised by the corpses’ disappearance, let out a sigh of relief seeing the magicians still surrounding the magic formation and chanting incantations.

Though it was almost the final stage, activation hadn’t started yet.

They could still stop it.

“No!”

At that moment, Clara, who was hiding behind the sand dune together examining the surroundings, let out a low scream.

She was first looking at places excluding the magic formation to find Hayden.

She could find Hayden in the ruins’ shade.

He was together with the contaminated summoners who had chased her, but he wasn’t wearing handcuffs or tied with rope.

Hayden was in the middle of talking with the contaminated summoners.

At Clara’s scream, Sun-woo and other summoners could also confirm Hayden.

Hayden’s eyes were dyed red, and his body had turned murky.

He had already become contaminated.