Advent of the Archmage

Ferde, on the airship's platform

The Yabba Battle Airships floated 20 feet off the platform, ready for takeoff. Its doors were open, waiting for the people on the platform to enter.

The purpose of Link's visit to Orida Fortress this time was to revoke Marshall Abel's authority, but he could not do this alone. Despite being the Lord of Ferde, he was not Duke Abel's superior. No matter how high his prestige was, Duke Abel would not take a command from him.

Of course, if there was anyone who had the power to give such an order to the duke, it would have to be King Leon himself, who had been residing in Ferde.

And so, King Leon had agreed to come along with him.

Leon had always been concerned about his brother. With the king by his side, Link now stood on solid ground to take action.

He still needed the strength to defend himself against any opposition.

He would have to face Duke Abel's personal bodyguards, which may include the Agatha Nagas.

He would not be able to cover every contingency in this operation, which was why he had brought in a bit of help.

Celine was one of the people Link had brought in. Her Huge Fire Gun had Level-9 offensive power, and she also had the ability to anticipate attacks. Her striking distance was an impressive 2000 feet, and Link would certainly have the upper hand by having her provide covering fire from afar.

She was Link's trump card.

Besides her, Link had assembled 40 Warriors armed with magic pistols. If need be, they will rain down a Level-7 storm of bullets in an instant.

He had also brought with him three Level-8 Dragon Warriors, including Felina.

This assembly of Warriors, and the magic cannons the Battle Airships were equipped with should be enough to suppress the entire battlefield.

Before long, everyone had gotten on board. The Battle Airships then began gaining altitude when everyone was settled on board. Once they reached 6000 feet in the air, the airships began making their way straight towards Orida.

After a while in the air, Link suddenly felt that something was not right.

It was a vague sensation, but he sensed that something might happen if they were to fly straight towards the fortress.

Before Link became a Legendary Magician, he had his fair share of premonitions like this. He had a nightmare on the eve of the demon Tarlvess' release from its imprisonment back when he was still a student at the East Cove Magic Academy.

But it had happened only in his dreams.

While sleeping, the human mind was in a state of repose. During this time, a sense of foreboding may present itself within the dreams of people with stronger spirits, like Magicians, in reaction to impending danger.

However, when one was awake, the human mind was in a state of disorder. Any form of premonition would encounter interference from a stray thought and be easily misinterpreted as a sign of an overactive imagination. In the past, Link tended to ignore these subtle warnings given to him by his mind.

Now, Link sensed that same nagging feeling, though it was a bit too weak. He had no way of knowing whether it was a real premonition or just his mind playing tricks on him again. After much thought, he decided to play it safe.

Before he even spoke, Celine, who was sitting beside him, whispered, "Link, could you have the captain change our current course? There's something wrong about this."

Celine had a gift for clairvoyance. Hearing this from her, Link gave his order to the captain without any hesitation. "Merlin, take a detour here."

Merlin seemed vexed by this. "My lord, I'm afraid that's not possible."

"Why's that?"

Merlin explained, "The airship's flying distance is limited. It only has enough magic crystals to fly for 2800 miles at most. As the straight line distance to Orida Fortress from our point of departure was 1200 miles, we only have enough for a round trip. If we take a detour now, I fear we may not be able to go back to Ferde."

Link thought for a while, then came up with an idea. "How about this: stop using the magic seal for now, and I'll use a spatial field to move the airship."

Everyone in the cabin was speechless at this. An airship of this size weighed around 100 tons. Even if Link managed to keep it afloat in the air, how much power would he need to expend? And how long would he be able to take the strain?

It was also important to note that they still had to fly for a few thousand miles before reaching their destination.

Merlin said uncertainly, "My lord, are you sure that's alright?"

He had never experienced such a thing in his tenure as the airship's captain.

Link nodded. "Yes, don't worry about a thing."

As Merlin knew how strong Link was, he then ordered the rest of the crew, "Let's slow down the airship, and have it hanging in the air now."

Hum, hum... The airship's magic seal began rotating backwards. After half a minute, the airship had stopped moving forward and was now bobbing silently in the air.

Link began meditating, his mind sinking into a deep concentration. Dragon Power flowed from his body into the airship and distributed itself throughout the vessel's pressure points. With a sudden push of his will, Link activated a spell that he had spent the last couple of days working on: Void Walk.

Void Walk

Level-11 Legendary Spell

Cost: 10-100 Dragon Power points per second

Weight Limit: 500 tons.

Description: Apply changes in space curvature to generate push. There is no limit to the direction of the push. Change in direction is immediate in effect.

(Note: This is an extremely powerful field spell.)

When the spell was cast, everyone felt a slight tremor in the airship. After a while, it steadied itself once again. Link then said to Merlin, "Alright, you can turn off the magic seal slowly."

The crew members all looked at their commander Merlin, hesitant to make any move. Merlin too was nervous about this, as he feared that the airship might fall out of the sky at any moment. After hesitating for a few seconds, he finally gestured at his crew to do as they were instructed.

The magical power input in the airship gradually began decreasing. Half a minute later, the source of magical power had been completely shut off. Despite this, the entire airship remained floating steadily in the air still.

Link carefully began raising the airship. He could feel his Dragon Power being expended at a rate of around 41 points per second. Taking into account his current Dragon Power recovery rate, which was 37 points per second, he was effectively spending 5 points of Dragon Power every second.

His present maximum Dragon Power was at 13900 points. By pushing the airship forward for 40 minutes with his Dragon Power, Link was able to make up for any loss of magical power the detour might incur.

"Alright, sit tight now. I'm going to accelerate," said Link.

Link began slowly changing the field's direction while increasing his Dragon Power input into the airship. The whole vessel began picking up speed till it hurtled through the air even faster than before.

Whoo, whoo whoo... Wind rushed into the cabin as they sped through the air. Merlin looked at the airship's speedometer and saw that it was indicating a speed of 1060 miles per hour. They were traveling twice as fast as before when the airship was still powered by their supply of magic crystals.

What was even more surprising was the fact that the entire vessel did not so much as sway as it flew through the sky. If it were not for the roaring wind and the rapidly changing scenery, they would not have sensed that the airship was even moving.

The airship's movement was even steadier than before.

The Yabba crew members within the airship were all stunned by this.

The expression on the three Dragon Warriors was one of pride and reverence towards the display of their duke's sheer power.

As for King Leon, he initially had some reservations about this journey to the North. However, upon witnessing Link's power, he let out an inward sigh. He should be safe in his hands.

The rest of the Warriors too looked at Link with fervent admiration.

Only Celine remained unmoved by this. She had already known the extent of Link's power. Seeing everyone's expression of awe and shock on the airship, she could not help but smile.

Link, however, was oblivious to his surroundings at the moment. His mind was wholly concentrated on maneuvering the airship through the air while feeling both the inner workings of the airship and any changes in the air current outside.

Five minutes later, the airship was now flying over the ocean and then along the coastline in a straight line.

After flying approximately 500 miles for half an hour, Link began slowing down. When he had reduced the airship's speed to 500 miles per hour, Link said to Merlin, "Alright, resume magical power input. I'm letting go now."

Feeling even more confident about Link's abilities, Merlin commanded his crew to do as such.

The crew began working to increase the airship's magical power input as they were told. Link gradually lowered his Dragon Power input as he felt the airship regaining control of itself.

Five minutes later, Link finally returned control of the airship back to the crew. Throughout the whole process, the airship did not sway even the slightest bit.

Link then looked at Celine, who instantly knew what he was about to ask. She nodded. "There shouldn't be any problems now."

Hearing this, he gave his order to the crew, "Fly us straight to Orida now."

They had taken the detour completely on a whim. If an accident were to happen at this point, Link had no choice but to accept that luck was never on their side to begin with.

After flying for another 20 minutes, when Link's Dragon Power had fully recovered in him, Merlin suddenly reported to him, "My lord, there's something up ahead."

He then gestured at one of his co-pilots, who tapped on a few runes. A magical image appeared in the middle of the cabin, showing a large eagle with 50-feet wingspan flying in front of them. On the eagle's back rode ten or so figures.

From the image, Link recognized that those figures belonged to Agatha Nagas. From the looks of it, they were all heading for Orida Fortress. This did not bode well for them.

Link asked, somewhat stunned, "How far are they? Did they notice us?"

"They're 50 miles away from us and probably still haven't noticed us," Merlin replied.

Link thought for a moment, then said, "Follow them closely, I'll ambush them from behind!"

In the previous game world, with the exception of a few Naga Priests, most Agatha Nagas could not fly. By killing off the giant eagle, he could send the Nagas spiraling to their deaths 6000 feet from the sky!