Heavenly Zenith

[A good idea. It"ll cause some backlash to the four casters, but it"ll help in the long run... Okay, just put your hand on the seal and I"ll get to work.] As Seran did so, mana poured out of his hand and into the seal, carefully powering its way through the mana powering the spell and a.s.similating the spell into itself. The process took a good thirty minutes to complete, but eventually, the seal was under Seran"s complete control. [There, done. Now, be careful when you shrink it. If you move it too quickly, you could cause shock to the adventurers inside. Some might not survive it.]

"No worries, William, I got it. I"ve made a spell perfect for such an occasion, [Seal Maker"s Mark]. All I need to do is mark someone with it, and they"ll be able to move about as freely as I can in the seal." Compared to the other adventurers, Seran easily walked into the seal, which did nothing to stop him at all. The first person he chose to move to was Theodore, an early-60s man in blue-and-green robes, holding his ornate dragon-headed staff aloft while his brown hair whipped about his face. Making sure to be careful, Seran marked Theodore with the [Seal Maker"s Mark], which began to cause Seran"s mana to flow over the mage"s body until it covered him completely, like a second layer of skin, only transparent.

Theodore, unable to react in time to the sudden ability to move again, almost crumpled to the ground with mana exhaustion, but Seran managed to catch him before he did. "Whoa, whoa, easy there. Sit down and rest, Theodore. You"ve earned it after all of this."

The guild-master of Lightwood Fortress"s branch took a minute to focus his green eyes on the boy in front of him. "Who are you..? Wait, what"s going on?" He looked around in a panic before discovering that everything around him was still frozen, save for Seran and himself.

"Ah, don"t worry. The seal is still in effect, I"ve just taken over the spell so it"s now being powered solely by me. You can move because I"ve marked you with my mana, making you immune to its effects. I figured it would be best to start with someone more familiar compared to the others here."

"But... I"ve never met you before. I"m sure I"d remember someone so powerful... or young," said the mage as he c.o.c.ked his head slightly, giving himself mild vertigo by doing so.

"Hold on just a minute, I want to do something first." Seran pulled a hand mirror out of his Inventory, to which Theodore muttered about s.p.a.ce magic, before casting a spell on it and saying, "Call June."

"June? My guild branch"s second strongest mage?"

"Yes, June, the interim guild-master." Seran didn"t elaborate further, and they waited before an image of June at her desk appeared. "Hey, June!"

"Seran! I didn"t expect you to call, though I"m not surprised you can. Is there a problem with the quests?" June sounded both unsurprised and mildly concerned.

"No, no problems at all. I just want you to meet someone, vouch for my ident.i.ty and all."

She was silent for a moment before asking a one-word question, "Who?" When the boy swiveled the mirror to face the exhausted mage on the ground, she stood up in a hurry, hands slamming the desk, "Theodore! You"re okay!"

Theodore rubbed his eyes a little, "I must be hallucinating. Is that you, June?" He took the mirror from Seran when he was handed it, "You look so... different."

"You haven"t aged a day. Unsurprising, though. You have been sealed for two years now." June moved around the desk and stood in front of the mirror, as though ready to dive through it. "You"ll need some time to readjust after such a long time."

"It"s been two years? Really? It just feels like time didn"t move at all..."

Seran chimed in, "Ah, that"s because of the spell. It was a simplified version of one of the Mage King"s disciple"s spells, which was also a downgraded version of the Mage King"s devil sealing spell. It causes time to stop completely within its area, so naturally, it doesn"t move."

Before Theodore could ask anything, June said, "Ah, I forgot. Vouching. Theodore, the genius beside you is Seran Greenwood. He has several t.i.tles, including the world"s strongest demiG.o.d, Greenwood King, Grand Sage, and who knows what else. He is also currently undergoing 3 quests that he requested the headquarters to give permission for. Oh, and his rank is temporarily S-rank until he completes the quests. One of them is the Calamity quest."

"While I don"t understand the first two completely, I know what a Grand Sage is, and you"re telling me this kid is a Grand Sage?" Theodore could hardly believe his ears, even when June confirmed it again. "It"s like the second coming of Merlin, but even stronger... wicked."

"Alright, now that you"ve vouched for me, June, I"m going to get started on the others. You can stay on the line until I"m done. It"ll make it easier later on." Waving his hand casually, Seran walked over to the Bishop, patting her on the shoulder and giving her his mark as well.

Upon recovering from chronostasis, she fell backward. Thankfully, she was already kneeling and simply fell on her behind. "Ow, sharp rock..." She groaned and rubbed at her tailbone, not noticing Seran until he cleared his throat, "W-what?!" As Theodore did, she also saw everything with incredulity.

"A lot of time to explain, not enough time to heal the wounded. Less talking, more healing. If you run out of mana, let me know and I"ll give you more. Even your most powerful healing spell won"t drain all of my mana." Ignoring her confusion, the white-haired boy moved to mark each adventurer that was injured or dying one by one, the sounds of pain quickly forcing the Bishop to collect her wits and rush to work, healing with as much power as she could. Thankfully, with Seran"s limitless amount of mana, she could use [Grand Restoration] as often as she could handle casting it. With the two of them powering through the area, almost everyone that could be saved was saved, while only a few of the rest didn"t survive. Those who were dead remained dead, as Seran wasn"t powerful enough to use resurrection magic, and the Bishop would need to be a Cardinal before she could.

Theodore happened to be at the furthest distance from the Alpha Chimera of the 4 mages that sealed it, so, with June"s insistence, he called for all of the survivors to come over to him quickly. Thanks to June and himself, the guild-master explained what was going on, what had happened and what was going to happen with the Alpha Chimera.

The half-demon, a black-haired mid-twenties man with one orange eye and one blue eye, directly pa.s.sed out upon being unsealed, requiring two men to come and carry him over to the rest of the group. The same happened with the elf mage who was responsible for the seal itself, as casting such powerful magic had completely overwhelmed her mental strength. The third mage, a dark-skinned half-elf man, was in better shape, by comparison, only doing the same as Theodore and falling to the floor.

Once every adventurer that could be rescued was rescued, Seran created a ma.s.sive barrier in the shape of a box around the group before lifting it up into the sky a good thousand feet above the ground. Jumping up to the box and landing on the air beside it with wind magic, he said, "You"ll be completely safe up here. It"d take S-rank magic to break this barrier. Take your time to rest. You"ve all earned it."

Dropping back to the ground, Seran, instead of constricting the seal, snapped his fingers and broke it. The Alpha Chimera was mid-swipe, which left a large gouge in the earth as its paw pa.s.sed by. Realizing its prey was missing, it looked around to find nothing... and a white-haired boy standing in front of it, giving it the middle finger.