Although they had collected plenty of bulky spoils on this adventure, Karen and the others moved very quickly, thanks to Karen's little cheat: his enormous spatial equipment.
Karen's spatial ring had been given to him by the king. Given how wealthy the High Elves were, could a spatial ring bestowed by their ruler possibly be an ordinary one? At any rate, Karen's ring was spacious enough to hold his entire laboratory.
The only things they had gained from this adventure were some antiques and books made of leaves, so they had no trouble packing everything up and taking it home.
Unlike the gloomy journey out, everyone was relaxed and cheerful on the way back. At least they had come away with something, even if it fell far short of what they had expected.
On the way home, a master-level Spellbreaker scouted ahead and kept watch. Karen and the others strolled along as if they were out sightseeing, chatting and gathering any medicinal herbs they came across.
Suddenly, a beam of light struck Karen. A curtain of light flashed into existence around him, then shattered at once. Karen disappeared in the next instant.
It all happened in a flash. Apart from Sathis, who saw what had happened, everyone else saw only a streak of black light hit Karen, and then he was gone.
"What happened? What hit Karen? Why did he suddenly disappear?" Antonidas asked anxiously.
"I didn't see clearly."
"I didn't either. Did any of you see what happened?"
"No."
"No."
"All right, I saw it.
It was something black, moving so fast when it hit Karen that its trajectory formed a streak of light.
Karen has a piece of equipment, a protective necklace. It has a trigger function that generates a shield around his entire body when he is attacked, and it can withstand a single Hero-level strike.
The shield appeared just now, then shattered immediately. That means the attack was more powerful than a single Hero-level strike.
The shield has an additional function: when it breaks, it randomly teleports its wearer somewhere within a one-kilometer radius.
Karen must have been teleported away, but he should still be somewhere within that one-kilometer radius.
Let's split up and look for him," Sathis said calmly.
"All right. Nandi, Thomas, each of you take a group and search ahead.
Sathis and I will each take a group and search behind us.
When you find him, send a magical signal into the sky. We'll come as quickly as we can." Having clarified the situation, Antonidas began assigning tasks.
"Understood."
"It's been quite a while, and Karen still hasn't sent any message.
Either there are enemies nearby and he can't contact us, or he's in trouble—or he's unconscious.
Search every underground cave, every tree, and every patch of grass. Don't miss anything.
Report any clues immediately, too. There should also be a magical fluctuation at the point where he finally reappeared, so it ought to be easy to find." Sathis added.
Antonidas and the others scattered, searching every patch of grass and every treetop.
Sathis found another spot with a magical fluctuation. He pushed aside the waist-high weeds, but instead of Karen, he found a medicinal herb.
Normally, he would have carefully gathered it.
Now, he couldn't even bring himself to give it a second glance.
"Not him again. It's been so long, and we still haven't found him.
Could something have happened to him?" Just then, a special magical signal flashed in the distant sky.
"Thank goodness, they've finally found him." Sathis raced toward the source of the magical signal at full speed.
When he reached the place where the signal had been sent, he found that it had come from Antonidas.
"Captain Sathis, you're here. I found a strand of Karen's hair here.
There are also traces of teleportation magic, but I've searched the area and can't find Karen anywhere. He must have been here, though." Seeing Sathis arrive, Antonidas handed him the strand of hair and explained what he had found.
Sathis took the hair and examined it carefully before saying, "It's definitely Karen's."
Then he walked around the area, inspecting it carefully.
"There are no signs that he left."
After that, Sathis leaped lightly onto the tall treetops and surveyed the surrounding canopy.
Soon, he began jumping from tree to tree, searching. After a while, he shook his head, apparently having found nothing. Just as he was about to jump down, he suddenly froze.
After a moment, he hurried down, drew his weapon, and began hacking through the weeds.
Antonidas couldn't tell what he had noticed, but he knew Sathis must have found something. He used magic to clear the weeds as well, calling the others over to help.
It took half a day to clear away the weeds around them, revealing an open patch of ground. Only then did Antonidas notice the patterns on the ground.
"Can you make them out?" Sathis asked Antonidas.
"Yes. These look like magical markings. Could it be..."
"You guessed right. It's a magic circle, and it should be an ancient one."
"Did Karen get transported away through this magic circle?"
"Yes. I estimate Karen was first teleported here. He found this magic circle, somehow activated it, and was then transported away by the ancient magic circle.
This magic circle definitely dates back to ancient times, and it hasn't been maintained for a very long time. It's extremely fragile.
It collapsed after only one use."
"What do we do now?"
"I'll contact Prince Kael'thas." Sathis took out a magical device as he spoke.
He inserted a Magic Crystal and tapped the device several times.
After a while, a small magical screen rose from the device, and Kael'thas's face appeared on it.
"Sathis, what is it? Where's Karen?" "Prince Kael'thas, Karen triggered a one-use ancient magic circle and was transported away. We need you to come and take a look."
"What exactly happened? Never mind. Take out the magical locator, and I'll teleport over."
Sathis took out another magical device and inserted a Magic Crystal.
At once, a massive beam of light shot from the device into the sky, filled with dense magical energy.
The magical energy remained concentrated rather than dispersing, and its intensity continued to grow.
When the magical energy reached its peak and stopped increasing, Kael'thas's figure appeared near the beam.
Using the magical coordinates provided by the device Sathis had set up, he had made a long-distance teleport and arrived near the designated location.
Kael'thas looked around, spotted Antonidas and the others, and Blinked straight to them.
Kael'thas did not look as gentle and refined as usual. His expression was grave, several magical orbs hovering above his head. The pressure of his Hero-level presence left Antonidas and the others gasping for breath. Even master-level Sathis had sweat beading on his forehead.
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