One piece of good news, one piece of bad news.
Annan had lost the Elemental Legion he had spent more than ten months building, but at least this was not an attack on Free City.
The Elementals would not disappear for no reason. Annan activated two Talismans at once, summoning Dean Breichim and Mr. Swaro.
"Run into trouble?" Dean Breichim asked kindly.
"I need an explanation," Mr. Swaro said coldly, dressed in a nightgown.
"My Elemental Legion has disappeared."
Before Annan even saw Mr. Swaro begin an incantation, he vanished. Outside, a vast surge of Magic Power suddenly rolled through the air like a wave.
"Elemental Life-forms aren't mindless," Dean Breichim told Annan. "Once they become Giant Elementals, they can communicate and think just like us."
"But mine were only Large Elementals."
"Then an Elemental that has developed intelligence must have called them back..." At a gesture from the Maid Abby, Dean Breichim sat down. "Mr. Annan, gathering Elementals changes the environment. You summoned too many."
Could that be why the Elemental Legion had disappeared?
Mr. Swaro returned and confirmed it. "The city is permeated with the aura of the Elemental Planes. They were summoned back."
“What would happen if I opened another Teleportation Portal now?”
"You can try."
Fortunately, Mr. Swaro, cold on the outside but warm at heart, had no intention of standing by.
A new day had just begun. Annan first used a Magic Ring to summon an Earth Elemental, grabbed a handful of grit from it, dismissed it, then cast Lesser Summoning Spell.
At first, everything went as usual. An Eternal Element was created. But then, as the summoning circle was about to vanish, a dense, earthlike force surged over it and became an invisible hand that seized the Earth Elemental.
Mr. Swaro wrested back the