We decided to save some time and use teleportation to get to the Outpost. Though as we had no idea what is the situation out there, we couldn't get there blindly.

For one, space, we aim to teleport to, might be occupied. It would be hardly a problem if I or Phoenix did that alone, spell 'Blink' is a bit different from 'mass teleportation', Space-Time continuum makes corrections to our course by slightly shifting our destination.

But this isn't the case when using mass teleportation with magic circles. For people, whose space at the intended destination is occupied, teleportation simply wouldn't work. They would be left in their old place while the rest is transported.

Large consumption of mana makes it not practical to fetch all those we left behind.

It makes no difference if it's only one person or twenty when using mass teleportation, as the amount of mana needed is almost the same.

The second problem is that we might appear right in the middle of a battle, or in a path of some spells. This is why it's crucial for one of us to scout ahead.

"I will be back shortly." I leaped on my disk, the same one I used to fly, and after I teleported, the scene in front of me has changed.

The place looked even worse than I imagined.

Sure, I expected to see some destruction, but not to this degree. Almost all walls of the Outpost were reduced to rubble, and large scars on the ground left room for imagination about the battle that transpired there.

The battle was already over and only a few groups of adventurers were still fighting. Others have already started dragging corpses of monsters to the side, while some did the same to their fallen friends. When I saw at least ten corpses of formida, I realized that the situation was abnormal. Those monsters should be very rare!

The entrance to the dungeon was collapsed, and with my enhanced hearing, I could hear muffled roars of monsters, constant tremors coming from inside was a proof of their attempt to break through. There must be a lot of them. That's odd, just before we left the dungeon, there were less of them than usual. Where did all of them came from?

A bit further from the former Outpost, I saw pillars positioned in a circle - a portal. It wasn't there the last time we were here. Somehow they managed to create a new one. As for the old one, the one that was near the entrance to the dungeon .. it was a history, just like the rest of the Outpost.

The new portal was guarded by a group of veteran soldiers and adventurers. I noticed Enchanter Arnis talking with a man who seemed to be in charge. It was probably a guild master or the Lord of our city.

"You there! In the air. I need your help to scout the west side..." suddenly I heard a yell from bellow directed at me and when looked at the source, saw a minotaur with a few adventurers.

"It's you!" he shouted when saw my face.

I recognized him as well. There weren't many minotaurs with red skin.

I started to descend near his location. When I teleported here, just to be safe, I choose my destination high in the air.

"I didn't knew you can fly. Is this thanks to that thing?" asked Red when I was just a few meters above the ground, his gaze was directed at the disc under my feet.

"Partially, yes, although without me, it's just a chunk of metal." I replied and after summoning disc back to my dimension landed on the ground.

"My party is waiting at the Guild, could you make sure no one walks through this place? I need an empty space so I can get them there." I said while dropping an orb to a piece of land nearby. The purpose of the orb was to pinpoint this location. It wasn't necessary, as I could do that and without, but it will speed up the process.

"Sure, but..." and before he could finish I already teleported back.

"Everything is ready, we can depart." I said the moment I got back.

When everyone was ready I started creating a magic circle and after a moment we all safely teleported to the ruins of Outpost.

*

"Melissa, please!" begged me Tia with puppy eyes.

"Cousin, don't you realize how grim our circumstances are? How can you play at a time like this? All this situation reminds me of Dark Ages from the stories." said Jack while looking at Tia.

"Oh, come on. This is even more of a reason to enjoy while I can." objected Tia and then looked again at me. "Please, please, please..."

"Fine, fine, just a bit." I said with a smile and summoned my metal disc I used to fly.

"Yipee!" happily jumped on it Tia and I let her 'fly' with metal manipulation. It was me who was controlling her every movement, but she was enjoying it nonetheless.

"Sometimes I wish I could be so carefree." said Red while looking at her. "Let's go, guild master wants to meet with you."

As he said so we started to walk to a group of people not far from the portal. Part of my mind was busy with keeping the disc in the air.

Hmm, would it be possible to enchant it so others could fly without my help? It would be useful if our party members have means to fly. But there is still a problem with mana. Not all in our group have deep reserves, and it would be very dangerous if they find themselves in a situation with very little while still in the air...

Hmm, if I used monster cores with high mana capacity, it might work .. just like the ones we got from hellhounds. They had mana capacity at least three times larger than mine. Even if during the process of remaking them into mana crystal the efficiency is lost, it should still be a lot.

If we also made enchantments that absorb mana from surroundings to replenish the crystal, all problems would be solved...

No, not all, just a part of them. I am still not sure how to make enchantments to let the disc fly. Sure, I already have a few ideas how to make it levitate in the air, but something more complex like changing altitude at will, gaining speed, sharp turns, or keeping the balance would be hard to pull it off. Unless... Yes, that might work. If I managed to make working CPU, that would change everything. It could help me make all the complicated enchantments to work.

Maybe I could even equip it with a personal barrier based on the spell from our Space Time Magic...

"Why so excited?" asked Phoenix after getting closer.

"Because I just found a possible solution for making new toys." I said and after touched his hand, reinforced our bond with mana and sent him an image of our party members flying on metal discs.

"That could be useful... Is it possible to make them?"

"Not yet, not until I managed to make working CPU. Hmm, just in case we also would need to work on each disc together. If both of us leave a mark of mana on them, If something goes wrong, we will be able to land them safely with our metal manipulation."

*

"..there was no need. When I got here with men, Captain has already dealt with most of them." As we got closer, I saw Enchanter Arnis talking with an elf I saw earlier, I guess he is a guild master.

His hair was grey in color and a long beard was reaching the waist. Just from his hair color alone, one could tell that he was old, but that couldn't be said while looking at his face. With his young face, he reminded me those fake Santas from my old world. Then again, elves don't age like the rest.

I could feel a powerful aura emitting from him and with my mana perception, I could tell he has a large amount of mana. Out of curiosity I activated analyze.

> Name: Averon Nider Level: 69 Race: Elf Gender: Male Age: 536 Class: Sorcerer Subclass: Alchemist, Enchanter

Suddenly the window vanished with a weird sound and I received a slight shock from the backslash.

"Kyaaaaaaa!"

*Crash*

That was just Tia who rolled on the ground when the disc has crashed. From that backslash, for a moment I lost my concentration and this was the outcome.

"It's not nice to peek without permission." said Averon to me while his gaze was on Tia. She was now getting up from the ground while dusting her clothes.

Uhh, did her clothes had those rips before? Probably not...

"You are so mean, Melissa! Could just say that it's enough. No need to be so rough." pouted Tia while looking at tears on her clothes. "At least could give me a warning!"

"Sorry." I said to both Tia and Averon.

I received that backslash when guild master somehow interrupted my analyze. Probably some skill he picked over the years.

"It's fine, the situation isn't exactly peaceful, one can't be too careful. Just be more cautious where you use that. Anyway, as you probably already know I am Averon, Master of Adventurers Guild in this city. From what I heard you can use teleportation circles. Is that correct?"

"Yes. Both of us." answered Phoenix. "I am Reveon, leader of Red Beast."

"This is great news. While the sealing of entrance bought us some time, it's only a temporary solution. Sooner or later monsters will break through and it won't be pretty. We need to deal with the source of this."

"And how you plan to do that? If it was possible to do something to dungeons, it would be done so ages ago." asked Phoenix.

"You wasn't there when we fought against them." said guild master. "Those monsters don't act like they should, their attacks are organized and they don't attack one another. If we also take into consideration numbers of rare monsters... We suspect that there is a new dungeon core. I already sent a warning to the Council and the Sage of Silver Sword Order. With portals inside the dungeon destroyed, space-time mages will be invaluable in the coming battle."

"I see..." I said while deep in thought.

Suddenly a loud explosion drew our attention to the dungeon. There was now a large hole in the sealed entrance and rocks of various sizes were flying in all directions. Those who were unlucky enough to be close when it happened, died in a blink.

I quickly placed my hand on Phoenix and together we created a large barrier. But it wasn't necessary. Without even a word, a large magic circle formed under feets of Guild Master and all rocks in the air stopped in mid-flight. That was a powerful earth magic. Did he just used a chantless incantation?

At the breached entrance, all kind of monsters rushed outside and I noticed a lone human figure slowly walking from inside. From his steps, I suspected him to be a man. He was wearing a dark cloak that was covering all its body.

I don't know if this was his intention all along, but he looked just like a grim reaper.

He slowly pointed his finger in our direction and all monsters charged as one.