Frostbound [LitRPG Apocalypse]-Chapter 184 - Ritual Circle

Chris

Carson fidgeted at being addressed directly and seemed conflicted on how to respond, "Uh, sir, don't you think you should meet with the City Lord first?"

If we continued at our current pace we would reach the city in an hour but that wasn't what was important right now. I was still uninformed about the details we were dealing with and I wasn't going to trust what I was told wholeheartedly.

I wanted to see what we were dealing with first to ensure we weren't being led on a wild goose chase.

From the way the City was preparing it was clear they were readying for war, but that didn't confirm what we were about to face. I wasn't well versed in Demon Summoning Rituals but I could at least check the degree of skill used to carve it.

Compare what was there to what I or Gabriel made.

It would give me a good picture of what level the person responsible for this whole thing was. At least the Professional levels. The person's Class was a complete mystery.

You'd think that any who willingly summoned Demons was a Warlock of some sort but that assumption was faulty. ANY Class could benefit from making a deal with a Demon, which made finding the person responsible so difficult.

When literally anyone could benefit, it was hard to narrow down the suspects.

The reason I was so fixated on the person responsible for the summoning was because if we didn't catch them, the same problem would arise when they did it again.

To kill the threat, all the Demons and the person responsible needed to be killed or it would just resurface.

"Tell him to meet me there if you wish. Time is of the essence and I will not waste it on frivolous meetings." I told the man which only worried him more.

From the way they spoke of their City Lord, I wasn't sure if he would take offense but I hoped he wasn't so self-important to feel that way. We came all the way here to help him and if he got upset because we didn't come meet him first then that wasn't my problem.

Even if I was nearly one hundred percent sure this wasn't a trap, I wanted to see things with my own eyes.

"Everyone grab a horse, it will take a few hours to get there but it's better than two days!" I ordered the group of trackers that gathered around Hal and I.

I saw all but one of the guests break off toward the city and it made me snort to see who we were left with. Carson was the designated person to lead us there as everyone else in his group left.

Liberating a horse from one of the carts, I got him to mount up as well to make the trip quick.

As soon as everyone was situated, we were off toward where the Ritual Circle was found kicking up dirt at a fervent pace.

Ashton

What he thought would be the final preparations were underway and he could only hope it would be enough. They had worked nonstop to build as much as they could and he could feel the dreaded hour coming closer.

Their seer predicted as much and being in the know only made him even more worried.

The slamming sound of his door opening made him jump. This was it, they were going to tell him the City was under attack.

Instead, he saw Victoria sprinting through the slammed open door nearly out of breath.

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"Sir, we've returned with help," She said between breaths.

Excitement flared and he nearly jumped for joy at the exclamation but he stopped himself in time to remain stately.

"How many? A thousand? Two?" He asked already adjusting the plans in his head. Of the four thousand-odd citizens inside the city, only around half were fighters.

Of that half, fewer still did it with enthusiasm. It was what made all the plans so hard to draw up because he couldn't rely on those people alone. Everyone needed to be conscripted and it hurt to force people to do so, even if it was required.

"No, four hundred." She stated.

His good mood dampened significantly but he didn't say anything about it. It would be rude to insult any help they received even if it wasn't as much as he expected or planned on.

"But they sent their best, or so we were told, even the City Lord himself came." She added to soften the blow.

"The City Lord came?" He questioned.

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That was nearly the complete opposite compared to how the other pylon responded. The South treated his warning as a trap and refused to send help, the North not only sent aid, but even their City Lord came.

It at least gave him hope that the four hundred were at least fighting fit.

His mind kicked into motion and he rushed to welcome the person, "Quickly, bring them in. It won't do to leave our saviors outside the city!" He ordered.

It was then that another member of the group sent North came rushing through the door.

"Sir, they broke off into a small group to go see the Ritual Circle. The man said if you want to meet then to do so at the site." Noah, the second to come rushing in said.

What do they want with the Ritual Circle? None of the trackers were able to get any leads and it was a dead end on locating the Demons.

The decision to go or not warred in his mind. He wanted to meet the person in charge but he couldn't leave his city in a time of crisis. He was needed here and he couldn't go rushing off right now.

Heaven forbid the city gets attacked while he was gone.

"No, I can't leave now. Inform me when the man returns and invite him in. What's the rest of the group doing?" He asked.

With all the hectic construction and fortifications, they didn't have a chance to make room for that many people. Sure, they could squeeze in maybe one hundred, but four hundred was out of the question.

They didn't have the room for that many people.

It was Noah who answered, "They are waiting for their leadership to return to do anything. They don't appear to be anticipating an attack and aren't setting up any defenses."

That made him confused, "What do you mean? What do they plan to do then?"

"I think they mean to go on the offensive."

What! Are they insane?!

Chris

With their guide, it was trivial to find what they were looking for and the trip was swift. It only took a few hours to reach the site and the trackers were already trying what they could while I examined the Formation.

Runes were an odd thing to understand and I doubted I had come anywhere near the full picture but I wasn't the novice I once was. The amount of different Runes I had seen gave enough information to glimpse a bigger meaning behind them, yet I couldn't understand them fully.

I wouldn't for a while yet, but I was getting better with every passing day.

One thing I did know was that every Rune was different and all had a different feel to them. Durability Runes were blocky and gave off a sturdy feeling when observed. Wind runes were marvels of twists and turns while feeling free.

Depending on the deeper meaning of the Rune, the way it was carved and the feeling it gave off changed.

The ones I was looking at now gave off a hideous feeling ten times worse than the Demonic Leopards. They were carved into thick stone and filled with blood. Blood that had since dried and took on a blackened look.

Like it was infected after use.

The Ritual did something to the blood that made it impossible to determine what kind it was. I could only hold out hope that it wasn't human but I wouldn't delude myself into thinking that it wasn't a possibility.

The string of Runes formed a perfect circle in the stone, centering around a raised altar where the Formation converged. It was where either the materials used in the summoning were placed or where the sacrifices were... dispatched.

Based on the blood dripping from the altar, they used sacrifices. Not uncommon in the readings about Demon Summonings.

I tried my best to pick apart what I was looking at but I had no experience with this kind of thing. The books explained what I was examining but they didn't present the entire picture.

Even sensing the scene with [Basic Runecrafting] and [Formation Mana Flow] didn't tell me much. It gave off different feelings and information than what I was used to and without background knowledge, I didn't know what any of it meant.

The Runes I crafted with were easy to understand, I spent hours carving them and hours more studying them. I knew them on a near intimate level but these were something completely different.

It was like they took the Natural Order of things and deliberately twisted it. Infected it with something... well... Demonic.

Instead of deliberating on the knowledge I didn't know, I looked at how it was carved. The imperfections in the stone that caused slight mishaps during carving or when the person got tired and slipped up.

Imperfections in the flow of mana lowering the quality of the Formation and signs of untrained craftsmanship were abundant.

I was glad to see that the Formation wasn't perfect and I could confidently say I was a better engraver than this person. Things would've been bad if I couldn't see any flaws and the person was so far ahead of me in terms of skill.

That spoke of levels much higher than mine and of Formations I would have no hope of cracking.

Instead, it looked like slightly better than amateur work. It was hard to pinpoint a level range as that didn't directly determine skill level. You could be high-level and just suck at engraving or be low-level and be a genius and achieve the same result.

Or, worst case scenario, the person didn't even have an Enchanting Profession and this entire thing was free-handed without any skills.

That was the least probable outcome as there wasn't enough time to study such a thing. The only reason I had advanced so far enchanting-wise was because I had skills to guide and help the process along.

If I had to walk blindly in the dark and be completely self studied I would be even worse than an amateur engraver.

The person we were dealing with had to have at least some Profession related to Enchanting or bought enchanting skills inside the tutorial. Due to the skill, I would guess it was a Profession but I didn't rule out the possibility that it could be independent skills.

I was just finishing up when Hal came jogging up to me.

"Tell me some good news, bud," I said. While I wouldn't call the trip here a bust, I didn't get as much from the Formation as I would have liked.

"We've got a trail but it's faint. It could lead to nothing but it stinks like Demons." Hal said.

"Where does it lead?" I asked.

Instead of answering with words, Hal pointed over my shoulder into the distance.

Shit.

The direction was even further south taking us away from the rest of our forces.

"Hal, how confident are you in stealth?" I asked. I knew stealth wasn't his strong suit but I hoped that he had at least something to aid him. He used to be a Ranger after all.

"One low-level skill but nothing else. I don't really focus on that." He answered.

"Well, you're the best scout we have. Take those who at least have stealth skills to follow the trail and meet me back at the city with what you have. I'll be ready to march on whatever you return with." I said.

Hal looked at me skeptically, "The City didn't look like they were ready to sally out for an attack. How are you going to convince them?"

"You leave that to me. You just find the sons of bitches so I know where to go." I said.