Psychokinetic Eyeball Pulling

Chapter 208: Deletion

Astrid was donned in black robes that was clearly hiding a thin layer of armour behind it. A crown lay atop her head, which only added to her grandeur appearance. Then there was the eerie grinning mask that appeared the moment Astrid attacked, and the strange magic that she had in her arsenal.

It was clear she was a noble, and not one of low importance either.

Darian couldn’t help but take in a surprised breath at the power the girl held within her body. The purple magic was an element he had never seen before, and its might was staggering. He himself didn’t dare take one of those strikes head on. The magic she had stored was enough to rival that of a court mage. And being so tender, meant that her master had to be at the top of the world.

Darian watched along with his people as the young woman in front of him slaughtered the Ixtalians with a ferocity that left no quarter. There wasn’t a fraction of hesitance, nor was there a thought behind her powerful eyes as she did so.

No ordinary person could do what she did. To so easily take a life. Even he, who was famed as the Lord Vanquisher, always hesitated. Even if it was only for a fraction of a second, never impeding his strikes, but the fact remained.

The young woman, barely into her teens, was a warrior forged in the fires of war.

His heart soured.

What had she been through in her early life to be so ready to reap a soul? Darian had never heard of someone so experienced before. Not in the neighbouring kingdoms of Eborax, or Kotar.

If she had the ice attribute, with her golden hair, Darian might have thought her to belong to the Thermis kingdom. But he noticed a primal fire within that terrifying purple energy, so the ice kingdom was ruled out.

Her black robes were uncharacteristic for the hot desert region of Namuris. In such clothing, with armour beneath it, as a mage, she would overheat in seconds if she didn’t have a way to regulate that heat. So that was also out of the equation.

The Ethereal Isles, perhaps?

Then his mind settled toward the godly bridge linking the two continents together. Varor and Nurca. The land was a cultural mismatch of people from all over the planet. If Astrid belonged there, then it maybe would make sense.

But that didn’t add up either. It was clear Astrid had no knowledge that the void had opened, and was destroying everything in existence.

Heart turning heavy, he vividly remembered the harrowing screams, the wretched tentacles that ripped apart anyone in their path, or the image of them sucking a mage for their mana dry. It was as if the pictures of slaughter, and invasion, were branded into his mind with a hot poker.

Darian shook his head. For now, it wasn’t important. He had more important things to deal with now.

Astrid’s actions would be a catalyst for war.

***

Astrid shirked her shoulders. Darian was mad. No, that wasn’t right, the emotion she was sensing was something else. Something more bloody.

They returned back within the castle. Darian had called his generals, while he had already commanded the warriors at the outskirts of his land to be doubled.

On the large table, the only piece of furniture within the room, he had a map laid out. It displayed Darian’s land, and to the west was the Ixtalian pyramid, and the barrier around it.

In the end, Darian only ordered to bolster the defences around his land. Astrid of course offered her help, but Darian refused.

Once all the generals had left, it was only Astrid, and Darian that were left in the hall. The lord was busy tapping his finger on the table, thinking. Waiting. In the end, he finally looked at Astrid, and said, “Why do you think I am so hesitant on fighting?”

“Because war has implications on your people.”

“That is one reason, yes,” Darian said. “The main reason is that I fear it. I fear war. I ran from the war that waged on my lands, and I ended up here, only for the same thing to happen again. Am I fated to fight? To massacre? I only want peace… does that make me a coward?”

However, it didn’t seem Darian was wanting an answer. He shook his head, and was about to head on out. But Astrid was thinking. Ever since she arrived, she was always trying to find an excuse to excavate the land under the castle.

With the Ixtalians being a threat, wasn’t it a perfect opportunity for her? They had given her a perfect explanation and placed it genty right into her lap!

“What if the Ixtalians aren’t attacking you because you have settled in their land,” Astrid continued, striking the stone tiled flooring with her foot. “But it’s precisely where you have settled that has gotten them so angry?”

Yes, it was perfect! Astrid stifled the excitement of her genius from gushing outward.

Darian was about to say something, opening his mouth, he closed it again the next second. He nodded. “Perhaps. But what would they be after?”

“Something under the land?” Astrid asked. “What are these people like? Are they religious people? Sacred, maybe?”

“They believe in the natural gods,” Darian said, pacing up, and down the length of the long table. “They have always buried their sacred elders according to their rituals…” Darian’s eyes widened before continuing, “I wonder if we have accidentally set up on one of their ancestral lands?”

Astrid bobbed her head up and down, agreeing with Darian’s words. “If that was the case, then they would stop at nothing to make sure you returned where you came from.”

“But I can’t leave,” Darian said with a look of stubbornness to him. As if leaving once again wasn’t an option.

Just how strong are there enemies? Astrid wondered.

If Darian couldn’t leave, then that just left one thing. Astrid knew for certain that the treasure was under this castle. The Eye-Queen wouldn’t lie about her mission… would she?

Astrid avoided that line of dangerous thinking, and instead thought of something else. Something to dig up the land.

“What if we retrieve whatever they have buried, and return it to them in good faith?” Astrid asked, but seeing that Darian didn’t like the idea, she continued. “Sure, they might be angry at digging it up, but will they really wage war, risk all their lives for a sacred piece of… treasure, or a crypt?”

Astrid made sure to add the mention of something else. She didn’t want to appear too forward.

Darian sighed. “It’s better than nothing, I suppose. Where should we start digging?”

“In the middle of the land?” Astrid asked.

Darian looked right under his feet. Below the throne room.

And so they got to work. It seemed Darian didn’t have much capability with excavation, but thankfully, Astrid was well versed in that area. Touching the ground underfoot, she focused on using Disintegration, and expanded the area she could use it. Then with a thought, she activated the skill.

In an instant, Astrid had deleted an area of three square metres from existence.

Darian’s eyes widened, and just as Astrid deleted another block the size of a small room, rushed steps hurried into the hall.

“Lord Darian, they have sent a leader over from Ixtal,” The warrior said with horror in his eyes. It appeared this leader wasn’t someone to underestimate.

“I will go and meet with him.” Darian nodded.

“What about me?” Astrid asked while standing in a perfectly squared pit.

“I would appreciate it if you stay here,” Darian said. “Work on the tunnel, I will be back shortly.”

As she watched Darian’s tall, departing back, she couldn’t help but feel a little guilty. Because of her, the war would perhaps be brought forward. People would die. But was it really her fault?

The humanoids had aimed for her life. If she had let them go, that would be a sign of weakness. It would tell the others that they could take their lives without reprisal.

To let them live would be against everything her family stood for.

Focus Astrid. Complete the mission, then get out of here. Astrid thought, and she quickly got to work.

Every second, she would delete a large portion of land from existence, and soon, she reached a strange layer of hardened rock. Unlike other rock formations that she was used to, this was light grey with golden flecks of metal intertwined.

At first she thought it was gold ore, which wouldn’t make sense in the first place, but after using Identify, it was clear that it was something completely different.

Veil of the Farsight Null: An enchanted rock layer that disables any scouting technique from penetrating through.

Enchanted? Astrid pinched her chin in thought. That meant someone had physically altered the ground so that no one could see through it.

Well, no matter. Astrid touched the layer of earth, then used Disintegration once more. In a blink of an eye, the layer was erased.

Astrid focused on Psych Domain and finally, she could see. Far down from where she stood, there was a hidden tunnel system that led far underground.

Continuing, it didn’t take long before Astrid had created a massive tunnel of her own. There was no slope, she created one steep drop that led straight down into the earth.

After blasting into the tunnel system that she had found, it was made from sandstone. And though Astrid just caught a glimpse of the pyramid in the distance, it appeared to be the same material used.

Making her way down the tunnel, she noticed that some of the walls had been inscribed. To her, they looked like nothing but scribbles, but she imagined they meant something to the Ixtalians. Probably their language, if she had to make a guess.

But she wasn’t interested in that. She was brought forward by the sight of a massive chamber in the distance.

The path sloped all the way down, and she could feel the temperature in the air rise. Was she travelling to the centre of the earth?

Astrid gulped, and soon approached a huge boulder in front of a doorway.

Let’s delete it. Using Disintegration on the rock, it vanished, and a vast room appeared in front of her. Along with a monstrous statue that had just awakened with scarlet red eyes…

Astrid prepared herself.