Solar Mage

Chapter 50: Back to Ashland

After stepping through the warp gate with Rachel, we are transported to a tunnel of light blue lights rapidly flashing past us.

So the interior of this warp gate is blue huh? This is the first color other than orange lava and gray rock I've seen for how many days now? Probably somewhere around four days. I probably have about a day left before Dustin dies so I'll have to hurry and get back to the capital. But until then, I can just relax and enjoy the lights after all that work.

I look down and notice Rachel no longer in my arms, but instead lying asleep on the floor.

Hmm... She is laying on the ground, but she isn't getting any further away from me. I guess it doesn't matter whether you are standing up or otherwise.

I crouch down, before falling down to the ground next to Rachel, my hands behind my head, as I stare up emptily at the blue lights flashing past in the ceiling

I wonder where this gate will take me. Hopefully back to the capital am I right? Actually, lets not worry about that and just relax–

I close my eyes and begin to relax my muscles, slowly drifting off asleep. Less than a second later, my Heightened Senses suddenly activate, and I immediately force my eyes open.

Oh come on!! I only relaxed for a second!!

I activate my Flame Claws as I descend down, through the bright day sky.

Wait– where's Rachel?

I look in all directions, left, right, and down. Until I finally see her above me, still unconscious and descending down in a freefall.

There she is!

I quickly charge to her, clawing onto and pushing myself through the air.

I deactivate Flame Claws once I get to her, so that she would not be harmed by the fire, and hold her into my arms, as we descend down, headfirst.

It would be quite painful if I were to land on my head from this height.

Using Swift Wind, I realign my body, rotating my body to fall with my legs facing downward while also slowing down my fall.

Now that that's settled, where are we?

I take a quick glance at the ground, squinting my eyes to see the ground better.

Wait– I recognize this place, this is the entrance of the Zidden dungeon! No wonder why the warp gate ended so quickly! There was barely any distance between the two places at all! Wait– are those people?

I concentrate Body Enhancement on my eyes and stare intensely.

Wait– those are people! It's total chaos down there! It looks like they are running out into the road in a hurry, away from something? But what are they running from...

My gaze moves in the opposite direction that the people are running from, eventually ending at one point, the Zidden Dungeon.

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They're all running out of the Zidden Dungeon? What's happening? Could it have something to do with me?

My thoughts are interrupted as I begin to hear screaming from below, getting louder and louder every second as I descend.

Crap, if I can hear them, that means they'll soon be able to hear and eventually, see me!

Suddenly, my head sets ablaze in a red fire, masking the entirety of my face, up to my hair.

That should be good enough right? It covers my entire face and my hair. Making the flames red does cost a little bit more mana than I thought, but it will be able to hide the color of my magic. Surely with both of these factors hiding my identity, no one should be able to find out who I am. The orange color looks a lot better than red though...

As we continue to descend, the fire gets thinner, almost being completely blown out from the dense air resistance while the screams from adventurers become clearer and more discernible by my heightened senses.

"AAAHHHH!!!"

A muscular, male adventurer brandishing a large iron sword screams while running, pushing past other adventurers.

"Please, my party members are still inside, you need to save them!!"

Another adventurer screams while holding a dungeon guard's collar, that was stationed there by the Ashland's adventurer's guild branch.

What could possibly be happening for an adventurer to lay their hands on an imperial warden? Does he have a death wish or is the situation really that terrible?

"THE DUNGEON IS COLLAPSING!! WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!"

Another, older adventurer screams while running in circles.

What? The dungeon's collapsing? I've heard of this phenomenon before, sometimes there are dungeons that just collapse out of nowhere. But I have heard of people who claim to have found a Hidden Dungeon in the dungeon that had just collapsed. I always thought it was fake but now that I have witnessed it first hand, it makes sense. Dungeons are made to pass on the legacy of the creator of the dungeon to someone worthy enough to inherit it, though the people who usually find them just got lucky and just sell the treasures after finding it. It makes sense since after fulfilling the point of the dungeon, it would collapse.

I keep my eyes looking down, to make sure that no one looks up and accidentally sees me.

It was a good idea for me to mask myself with fire. Normally the guild branches that manage a dungeon are really greedy and if they find out someone found the hidden treasure room of the dungeon they managed, they would charge the adventurer who discovered it and take a large portion of it from the adventurer; especially if the adventurer who discovered it was a low rank, which I am. There are even some cases where the guild branch tries to take all of the treasures from the adventurer. Though they happen rarely, since the court would get involved and they would always lose and have to give all of the treasure to the adventurer.

I don't have the time, nor do I want the time to give the greedy guild any of my treasures, so I should just stay hidden.

I switch my focus from the ground to Rachel.

It's fine for me to set my head on fire as a disguise since I have some resistance to heat thanks to my blessing, but I don't think Rachel does since she was struggling just as much as Tin in that heat exuded by the lava slime so I'll have to try something else.

I move Swift Wind's air resistance from my legs to my mouth.

"That's better, I can breathe and speak now. Sagey, do you have some kind of mask in your inventory that I can use?"

A robotic voice comes from my clothes.

"YES."

A pale yellow mask, the same shade as Sagey with a similar blue gem in the middle appears in my opened left hand before I grab it.

Wow... it looks just like you, Sagey. Was everything Luke made, created after your design? Or do you just want your face plastered on as many things as possible? Either way, this works well enough.

"Thanks."

"YOU'RE WELCOME."

Did it just respond back to me? Whatever.

I carefully place the mask on Rachel's head.

Oh no, it might be a little too big and loose, this isn't good, I might have to just tie it on her face with some ripped cloth or just wrap her face with cloth or it could fall off.

I think about ripping my robes before quickly shutting down that idea.

I can't rip something this valuable! It's a luxury good! Even though it was made for luxury purposes, it'll still be classified as at least an ancient tier artifact!

Slightly startling me, the gaps between the parts of the mask begin to move and rearrange itself, eventually stopping once it perfectly sits on her face, the gaps disappearing.

Woah, I guess it wasn't just a mask after all. I wonder why I even thought anything Luke Wolkan ever made would be a lower grade than Legendary, even if it was for unimportant reasons and he barely even tried making it.

I wonder what tier of an artifact Sagey is. So far, nothing has been able to destroy, or even leave a scratch on it so its made of high quality material. It has seemingly infinite mana and infinite knowledge. It has to at least be a divine tier right?

As I quickly approach the ground, people begin to notice me and move out of the way.

Well there goes that plan.

"BOOOOM!!!"

My body comes crashing down in a fiery explosion like a meteor, the impact creating a small, thin cloud of smoke and dust that disappears in less than a second.

Well that didn't hurt that much.

I hear several quick and loud footsteps around me in the second that it took for the dust cloud to disappear.

When the dust cloud fades and my vision is returned to me, I see a group of people in uniform wearing iron helmets and armor surrounding me from all sides.

"Criminal!"

A voice comes from behind me. I turn around and see a grumpy, serious faced man without his helmet and wearing full plate iron armor lined by some kind of yellow material.

He must be the leader of this imperial warden platoon.

"Criminal! I am Qule, commander of the Imperial Wardens."

What kind of name is Qule? I've never heard of him before. He must just be trying to intimidate me with his position. He's likely just the captain of this small village's wardens. Calling me a criminal is a bit much though, I can tell he's just trying to frame me and take my treasures, hell, he isn't even trying to hide the fact that he wants my Elderwyrm robes.

"You will return the treasures you stole from our dungeon as per Imperial law. You will relinquish all your weapons... robes– I mean treasures, release the fair maiden in your captivity, reveal your identity, and quietly follow us–"

I'm done listening to his bullshit, I don't have the time for this.

I re-activate Flame Claws and jump away, in the direction back to the Adventurer's Guild branch, with Qule screaming in the background, his voice getting softer and softer as I continuously get further away.

"HEY!!! Get back hereee..."

Lets see, it was this way right?

I follow the long dirt road, through the forest, back to the village.

I keep my flaming mask on as I reach the town square where there are many couples smiling and talking with each other.

How nice, to be able to spend time with your loved ones.

I jump down, holding Rachel on my shoulder and walk up to a recognizable face.

"Holy crap!"

He screams out in fear while backing away with his arms up.

"Oh, I thought you were a monster. How can I help you adventurer?"

"Still wearing a green suit I see."

His face becomes confused with his hands clasped together.

"I'm sorry, have we met? I feel like I would remember someone with such a... unforgettable appearance."

I reach into my robes.

Crap, I forgot all my money was lost in that trapdoor!

I whisper silently to myself while keeping my hands in my robes, moving them around to seem like I was searching for something.

"Sagey, give me a gold coin."

A gold coin appears in my hand and I pull it out of my robes, holding it out in front of the man with the green suit.

"Ah, it seems we do know each other, I'm sorry, I guess I just forgot for a second. How can I help you, my lord?"

Making people do things is so easy. I just have to give them a little money!

"Tell me where I can find the warp gate back to the capital city."

"I'm terribly sorry my lord, but there are no warp gates active right now, we're celebrating the lord of this village's birthday.

I take out ten more gold coins.

"What about now?"

He stares intensely at the gold coins in my hands with drool exiting from his mouth, before he quickly grabs them out of my hands and places them in his pocket.

"There should be no problem, your highness, please follow this lowly servant."

He's calling me his highness now huh? Money really can make people do anything.

"Oh, as for the lady–"

He begins to say before I quickly cut him off.

"I will take care of her, just lead the way."