Chapter 3596 Last Resort (Part 1) "This is it." Nalrond pointed at the massive flow of world energy that everyone could feel on their skin like steam coming from a boiling pot. "For a geyser it's a geyser." Lith looked around with the Eyes after filtering out the world energy. "But there's nothing here but a flatland. I was expecting a cave in a hill, a tunnel in the ground, something." "Yeah, right." Nalrond snorted. "Great idea, if you want everyone to notice a perfect place to hide and fight with wild animals and other runaways for your privacy. Remember that Rezars can swim through the earth. We don't need open passages. Wait here." He turned into his Agni form and dived into the soil, which rippled upon contact with his body like the surface of a lake. In a second, Nalrond was gone, and no trace of his passage was left. Lith and Solus followed his movements with the Eyes of Menadion and followed him to a deep cave the size of a three-room apartment. It was big enough for six Rezars to rest comfortably and over fifteen to be packed as sardines but safe. "Guys, I need your help." Nalrond's voice came out of Lith's and Protector's communication amulet. "Someone was definitely here and had to leave in a hurry." He opened a Warp Steps from inside the underground cave, allowing his friends direct access without the need to carry them one by one through hundreds of meters of solid ground and rock with his bloodline ability. The moment the dimensional passage opened, the late summer breeze freshened the cave while the stale air wafted out, carrying a familiar tang. "The place smells like blood." Lith's nose as a Tiamat wasn't as sensitive as Protector's, but it was leagues above that of a normal human. "From what I can tell you, Salman was already wounded when he reached this place." "Not exactly." Ryman shapeshifted into a humanoid Skoll as he sniffed the air. "Judging by the intensity of Salman's body odor, he lived here for at least four days. Recently he got hurt somehow and left in a rush. Look." Protector pointed at the source of the smell of blood. A left handprint followed by a trailing smudge on the south wall wall, and a small dried-up pool, barely three centimeters (1,2") across. The former stood like a black blot on the brown stone while the latter painted the soil a shade deeper than the rest of the cave. "His right arm was wounded." Ryman described the scene as his predator instinct depicted it to him. "He went back here while pressing his left hand to compress the wound as it healed. Then he picked up whatever was on the ground and left. "Probably with a Warp Steps. My guess is that someone found him and forced him to run away." "That's what I feared." Nalrond went slightly pale. "The good news is that if most Awakened are still searching for Salmar around Gabash, it means that whoever is after him kept the discovery a secret. "The bad news is that we have no way to know how long ago the ambush took place." "Or if whoever was after Salmar took a sample of his blood to track him." Friya said. "If we got followed, the same might have happened to him. A Rezar is a huge prize, and we know the Awakened came prepared for the hunt." "Good point." The Agni gritted his teeth at the idea of his clansman already captured or desperately running for his life. "Lith, Solus, can you use the Eyes to track Salman?" "If the blood was fresh, sure." Menadion replied. "But this is old. Life force is like mana. It fades quickly once separated from the main body. On top of that, the constant flow of world energy accelerates the decay process." "Unfortunately, she's right." Lith brought the Eyes millimeters away from the blood spaters, but the artifact failed to detect Salman's energy signature. "I doubt even a vampire could follow Salmar with this. What would you do in his shoes, Nalrond?" "Easy." Nalrond shrugged. "I would heal my wounds and rush to the next geyser, but this time, I wouldn't linger there. I would just use it as a cover while I rest and then move out the moment I'm in a fighting condition." Rezars were true mages, not Awakened. Even with their double cores, once their strength was spent, they had to rest. On top of that, not everyone was as lucky as Nalrond and naturally reached the blue core as an adult. Even with that, Nalrond had been no match for a bright blue-cored Awakened like Acala and most of the enemies he had fought alongside Lith. Once a mana core reached its natural limit, Awakening was the only way to grow stronger. "Any idea how powerful Salman's core is?" Solus asked. "No." Nalrond sighed. "I only know he was weaker than me. Only the strongest among us were entrusted with guarding Dawn's prison. He wasn't one of us." "Are you telling me he never got angry?" Solus was flabbergasted. "His eyes never lit up?" "He sure did, but we just lived in the same village, Solus. We were no friends." Nalrond replied. "After spending the last few years trying to forget about my old life, I barely remember his face." "Bottom line, he's most likely screwed." Lith marked the geyser for his tower. "Since we already got to this point, let's proceed assuming Salman managed to get away and is still on the run." "What if he's not?" The Agni looked at Lith, knowing the answer already but feeling the need to hear someone say it out loud. "Then there's nothing we can do." Lith raised his hands in apology. "If a powerful Awaekned brought Salman to his secret lab, it's over. Even if we identify the kidnapper and bring irrefutable proof he has Salman, we have no way to rescue him. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚 "Informing the Awakened Council would only make the representative of each race argue about who gets what piece of the Rezar." "Let's make haste, then. We don't have a second to waste." Nalrond nodded. 'Isn't this hopeless?' Friya asked Solus via a mind link. 'If the Awakened have a tracker and got a sample of Salman's blood, they must have found him days ago.' 'Not necessarily.' Solus replied. 'Even the Eyes of Menadion has limits. If our target hid in proximity of a mana geyser, we would need to get close to pick up his energy signature and could pinpoint his position only after filtering out the geyser's interference. 'The Awakened followed us easily because there was no interference. If Salmar reached a geyser, the signal of his energy signature would get fuzzy until his pursuers got really close to him. The problem is that, once the Awakened figure out the trick, they can anticipate his movements. 'Humans can't spot mana geysers, but Awakened know their position and split them between the local regional lords. All Salman's pursuers need is a map and a general direction to locate his next hideout.' 'Shit!' Friya silently activated her tier five Dimensional Ruler spell and searched their surroundings for any residual spatial distortions as they moved. Nalrond remembered the way to the mana geyser and locating one with the Eyes was easy, even from a large distance.