26 Chapter 26: Forest Fortress

Within the familiar looking carriage, Zelphyr sat with a pleased expression. He had a cup of tea in hand as he looked at the scenery outside.

Currently, Zelphyr and Narberal were on their way towards the Great Forest of Tob so that they can 'Gate' back to Nazarick. This was a preventative measure that Zelphyr felt Momonga did correctly, after all the longer Nazaricks true location stays hidden, the easier it is to expand without fear. Therefore, a forest that is said to contain strong monsters and be guarded by 'legendary monsters' is a perfect cover to prevent those of lower ability from investigating further. Of course Zelphyr knew these so-called 'legendary monsters' were in fact not even as strong as Gazef, however they still held a reputation and when it comes to information manipulation and secrecy, reputations are just as powerful as personal might. They will act as a powerful deterrent to the curious rats that may try and gather information.

As he had no idea what 'Wild Magic's capabilities were, Zelphyr felt that relying on the illusion arrays and other arrays surrounding Nazarick would be stupid. Momonga did not have this worry originally, as he was not in close contact with the Dragon Lords, whereas Zelphyr had essentially alerted them of his existence the moment he chose to make that proposition of aid to Draudillon.

'I wonder whether that Pleasure Loving Dragon Lord will visit, that'll be fun'

A sadistic smile crept upon Zelphyrs face as he envisioned how his first fight against a Dragon Lord would go.

"My Lord, why did you promise assistance? Surely it is easier to just take over the castle by force?"

Narberal asked Zelphyr as she stared at him with a conflicted expression. He was quite surprised as this was unlike her behaviour from before where she remained stiff and would no question anything unless they were in a conversation.

'Ah so this is what Momonga mean't by seeing their growth'

Zelphyr fully related to the happiness Momonga felt when he saw the growth of his subjects, after all, it was proof that they were alive.

"I did not promise any sort of tangible aid, rather this is a test. Currently, Draudillon has only a few paths to take, unless she wishes to destroy her countries population. The first being, rely on the Slane Theocracy and call for aid from them. Secondly, she could rely on Re-Estize or the Empire, maybe both. Finally, she can accept my offer."

Narberal nodded her head as she listened intently.

"Choosing the Theocracy is smart as they already have a diplomatic relationship, however the Theocracy cannot afford to move any of their elite troops right now. The Empire and the Kingdom are at heads with each other meaning choosing one will cause the other to become hostile. As for us, well she has no idea who we are or what we have to offer. Consequently, all of her options are grim."

Hearing his evaluation of the situation, Narberal asked another question she had been stuck on.

"Doesn't she have relations to those Overgrown lizards? Can she not ask for assistance?"

Zelphyr shook his head with a smile.

"That would be a fruitless endeavour and she knows it. The majority of the True Dragon Lords are councillors of the Argland state, which has a large population of demi-humans. Therefore, none of those will help, besides Dragons are selfish creatures by nature, there is no way they would help without gain. Especially when it comes to something as pointless as country conflicts. Should the Brightness Dragon Lord choose to act, he may become the target of other True Dragon Lords, thus the chances of his interference is low"

Narberals eyes widened in astonishment.

"Is that why you declared your intent to decimate any Dragon Lord who opposed you, My Lord?"

Zelphyr lent back and nodded his head as he thought back to Draudillons fearful face when he declared that.

"Indeed, by doing so, I put myself in a position greater than her Great-Grandfather who likely will not act. As a result, Draudillon needs to figure out whether my aid is worth the risk of having someone as powerful as me around. She is a monarch, but first and foremost she is a dragon. Had I pressured her, she would have submitted herself or challenged me to a duel as per the dragon customs of this world. Nevertheless, doing so will invite unneeded attention from all directions. An all out war with the entire continent sounds fun but it's not time just yet."

Narberals eyes sparkled as she looked at her master with undying respect.

"Regardless, she will accept. At that time, I will give her a vague idea of what support we will give her. On the off chance that she denies it, then we will move onto the next part of my plan and remove the Dragon Kingdom from the map at a later date. They're the most advantageous for us right now as they are the most crippled, but we can always cripple a country ourselves."

With this, their conversation ended and the two returned to silence as they travelled back to The Great Forest of Tob.

After an hour had passed, they arrived at the outskirts of the Great Forest of Tob. Zelphyr dismounted from the carriage after Narberal who had equipped her weapon. It seemed she had gone into full bodyguard mode.

"We shall enter the forest from here. The carriage should be able to get through once we make a narrow pathway. Narberal, use your weapon and carve a path large enough for the carriage to get through. I will tell you when to stop. Try to remain silent."

Stating his orders, Zelphyr stepped back so Narberal could work without fear of injuring him or the carriage.

Narberal began slicing through the leafage, cutting down trees and bushes as though they were air. Quickly, the group made their way into the forest until Zelphyr judged they were approximately half a kilometre in. It did not take long, however the sun had started to to go down.

"This is enough. Stand by the carriage. I am not sure how large this is."

Saying this, Zelphyr stepped in front of the retreating Narberal before equipping his 'Harbinger of Corruption'. Fusing mana into the blade, Zelphyr rotated in a 180 degrees angle from his current location, slashing his weapon along with it.

A few seconds passed of silence, before all of the trees surrounding him collapsed backwards. Putting his weapons away, Zelphyr held out his hand and changed into his Magic orientated style, conjuring a three 'Burnlances' consecutively.

"Triplet Magic Burnlance"

The lances shot towards the remaining tree stumps, incinerating them before quickly extinguishing as though they had achieved their task. This mastery of his spells was something Zelphyr had worked on with Narberal when they were training together. He had started to try and find out more as to how this New World affects the Tier Spell system he knew of, and as a result, he managed to find out that he could have a lot more control over spells if he infused more MP into it. However, it was not free of restrictions, as the spell could not be altered too drastically or the magic will fail, thus he assumed he could only alter it in a way his other magic would allow him too, such as using Magic enhancements.

Once the ground was flat and cleared, Zelphyr held out his hand again. This time, he focused his mind harder, much harder than he had before.

'I don't know how this works yet, but this will be good field research'

With that final thought, Zelphyr quietly uttered his spell.

"Create Fortress"

As he spoke, the ground in front of him began to rumble violently before a large structure erupted from the ground. It rose slowly like a balloon, tearing through the worlds crust.

In truth, Zelphyr was in awe at the sight. He had researched construction methods and similar topics back when he was playing the game, and he knew how much preparation it took to build a stable house. Therefore, seeing a fortress appear from the ground was a sight that even he felt hard to comprehend. In the game, there was no realistic feel to the spell, thus seeing it in reality for the first time was mind-blowing.

Eventually, the fortress stopped ascending and remained still. In front of Zelphyrs eyes was a large set of black doors. They seemed to be a mixture of metal and wood with a deep black paint on top of it. As he looked up, the smooth black and grey bricks sucked all of the light from the surrounding forest, radiating an evil atmosphere. Their were no windows visible on the outside as the wall remained flat with very few protrusions. Its exterior looked similar to a wide watchtower, however that was just the exterior.

'I am so glad I bought this cosmetic skin for this spell. The original is cool but this midnight theme really screams power'

Zelphyr thought to himself. He had spent a lot of money on cosmetics such as these and he felt it was completely worth it. Not only was it cool for him to look at, but anyone that saw it would think twice about approaching straight away.

"Narberal, bring the carriage and beasts inside the Fortress after me. We will be using this place as a base of operations for Nazarick members who are outside Nazarick on dangerous missions"

Narberal nodded as she gestured for the ebasts to follow. Although they were not the strongest, since they were Sleipnirs, they still had admirable intelligence, for beasts at least. Additionally, it seemed that all of the magical beasts from Nazarick had some sort of base intelligence, likely due to being summons.

Zelphyr pushed open the doors, which silently opened, not even a creak was heard. Shortly after, the rest of his party joined him, even the Sleipnirs.

'It must be because they're under the influence of my 'Dragon Imperator' class. They count as subordinates.'

Zelphyr sent Narberal to rest although she didn't need it, he wanted to have some time alone to mull over everything he had seen so far. Furthermore, he had to speak to Aura.

"Message"

Activating the message spell, Zelphyr tried connecting to Aura.

Immediately, he felt the other end connect.

"Hey Lord Zelphyr!"

Zelphyr couldn't help but smile at her light-hearted tone. It was a breath of fresh air from the strict tones everyone had used in the Dragon Kingdom.

"Good Evening Aura, I hope you're well"

"Of Course Lord Zelphyr! Everything has been fine at Nazarick, although Shalltear and Albedo seem to be arguing about something"

Resting his head on his hand, Zelphyr showed a wry smile as he guessed the source of their argument.

"It sounds like everything is normal then. I am calling to ask you to meet up with Narberal and I tomorrow in the Great Forest of Tob. Bring a squadron of Hanzos and two magic beasts for now. You will be able to see where we are once you feel the forest."

"Got it Lord Zelphyr! We will be there tomorrow"

Zelphyr voiced his gratitude before ending the call, as he still had to speak to Demiurge.

Repeating the same actions as earlier, Zelphyr connected to Demiurge just as fast as he did with Aura.

"Lord Zelphyr, it is a relief to hear contact from you."

Demiurge voice of relief reached Zelphyr.

"Thank you for the concerns. Everything is going to plan. I have a new task for you. Set up a squadron of Doppelgangers, 8 should do. Have them report to me when I get back."

Just like that, Zelphyr started preparing his next steps with complete confidence.