Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest Volume 6.
PROLOGUE.
In the dead of night, a shadow crept up the face of a small hill. It stayed low to the ground, stopping every few steps to examine its surroundings. The shadow turned out to be a monster that looked vaguely like a dog, a chill wind ruffling its black fur.
After some time, it crested the hill and stared at the sea of lights in the distance. Said lights were man-made. They were the flower of the night, the glimmer of the Heiligh Kingdom’s capital.
The majority of the capital’s citizens were fast asleep. But for the city’s thieves, black market merchants, and other unsavory types, the night was just beginning.
Aside from them, the city’s watchmen and throngs of adventurers also walked the streets, which of course meant some enterprising merchants kept their stores open late to cater to them.
The capital was a far cry from Fuhren though, as that city never slept. Every few minutes, another light winked out of existence, until finally the capital was shrouded in darkness. Only the distant twinkling of the stars and the moon’s cruel light illuminated the night now.
The monster, who’d been watching the capital’s lights dwindle, jumped with a start when it sensed something behind it. It flipped around and looked warily at the newcomer.
“Grr…” The newcomer didn’t respond to its growled challenge.
That was only natural, as what had appeared behind the monster was no living creature.
The ground in front of the monster glimmered with light. The presence it had sensed was an amalgamation of mana. It stared warily at the light, unsure of what to do.
Nothing happened for a while, so the monster cautiously approached the magical light. It seemed like the mana was stored underground, and only some of its light was leaking to the surface.
The monster started digging with its front paws, and its claws eventually struck against something hard. Eventually, it found a stone slab engraved with unnatural geometric patterns.
Curious, the monster started digging the stone slab out.
A second later, it leaped back in surprise. Another section of the ground was glowing now too. Yet another glowing circle popped up after that, and a fourth after that.
The monster’s instincts were screaming at it to flee. It dashed off, running as fast as its legs would carry it.
It had made the correct choice. Once it had put some distance between the anomaly and itself, it turned around to see more than a hundred lights dotting the top of the hill. The lights joined together, creating one massive magic circle.
The strange carvings on the stone slab had been a miniaturized version of the pattern on the circle. Had a certain vampire princess been present, she would have recognized the design.
It was the magic circle for a teleportation spell.
And, unfortunately for the citizens of the capital, it was big enough to transport an entire army.
Diamond. diamond. diamond.
