【Banishment】, 4th-circle Abjuration.
Its effect is to briefly banish a creature within the caster's line of sight to another plane (Charisma save).
Once the duration ends, the target is teleported back to its original location.
Without a doubt, this is an extremely practical spell.
Especially in group battles where enemies are numerous and elite individuals are present.
Imagine the scene: a well-equipped four-person adventurer party accidentally encounters a troublesome monster capable of summoning vast numbers of "mob-type" minions while exploring a dungeon.
Under normal circumstances, the party would have to deal with the surrounding attacks of a sea of mobs while remaining vigilant against sneak attacks from the elite monster—a very tedious affair.
However, if the party possesses a caster who has mastered 【Banishment】, they can cast the spell to remove the elite monster from the field directly.
The teammates can then take the opportunity to clear the battlefield.
By the time the spell effect ends and the monster returns to the field, the monster's original numerical advantage is gone. The situation reverses, and it is the monster that must face the adventurers' onslaught.
Furthermore, some agile groups with tactical ingenuity have developed a usage where they cast 【Banishment】 on themselves or their teammates to evade potentially massive amounts of damage.
For example, the final breath of a dragon using the last of its strength before death; or a one-time 【Solar Flare】 spell scroll from some wealthy mage.
The special utility of planar travel has allowed casters across the world to innovate and "play around" with this spell over countless years of development.
But it is, after all, only a 4th-circle spell. This means a mage needs to be at least Level 7 to memorize its spell model and include it in their prepared spell list.
【Banishment】 naturally has its limitations.
Conditions such as casting time, materials, gestures, and concentration go without saying; high-level mages can overcome these simply through feats.
The duration of the spell and the number of targets can also be enhanced by upcasting.
The most critical point is that 【Banishment】 does not possess the ability to permanently teleport a creature to another plane. Whether it is one minute or twenty-four hours, the banished target will eventually return to its original spot.
Moreover, the spell does not take effect unconditionally. Before being banished, the subject undergoes a Charisma check; if they succeed in the save, the banishment fails.
Therefore, many individuals who use "Charisma" as their primary attribute, such as Sorcerers, or those with outstanding charisma, are rarely affected by 【Banishment】.
With this as a premise, consider an adult Red Dragon. Setting aside the magic resistance already inherent in its scales...
The average Charisma attribute of the species is "21."
Among the six attributes, it is second only to "Strength" and "Constitution," which have already become stereotypes in the eyes of the world as the traits that make dragons formidable.
Generally speaking, below the Legendary level, almost no mage can make 【Banishment】 work on an adult Red Dragon through normal means.
And even if one were lucky enough that some unfortunate Red Dragon failed its Charisma check...
There is still a second layer of protection.
Innate to dragons after they reach adulthood, specifically for various spell checks—
"Legendary Resistance."
This allows them to force a successful save against a failed check a certain number of times per day.
One must admit that creatures like dragons were indeed exceptionally favored by the Creator.
They do not need to fight stinking, filthy goblins in caves, nor do they need to toil in farm fields under a scorching sun to fill their bellies.
They simply lie in their nests, sleeping for decades or centuries, and when they emerge, they are already creatures standing at the peak of the pyramid on the continent of Efara.
It was true that Virole was a reincarnator, but her current professional level did not exceed Level 5.
She didn't even meet the casting requirements for the most basic, entry-level 【Banishment】.
Let alone completely banishing an adult Red Dragon to another plane.
In fact, even before her reincarnation—
As an Academic Transcendent Divination mage who spent most of her life dealing with various equipment in a laboratory and had just reached professional Level 15—
She didn't have this ability either.
But right now, the adult Red Dragon named "Krogbari" had entered a state of total control, unable to move—the rigidity that precedes banishment.
As for the reason... it was naturally one of the trump cards Virole had scooped up while traveling through the river of time.
A banishment spell named after her, yet one she herself found utterly foreign, capable of ignoring resistances and even performing permanent teleportation.
After all, believing herself to be burdened with the so-called mission of "saving the world," she naturally kept a few limited-use trump cards besides her memories of her past life.
"Woom-boom!"
Accompanied by a gale filled with magic particles, a dazzling magical radiance erupted before their eyes under the cover of the torrential rain.
The crimson dragon, as massive as a miniature volcano, still had its leathery scaled wings folded at its sides, but its four thick, powerful limbs were lifted off the ground by the radiance, its entire body floating in mid-air.
For the first time, Shanan saw a flicker of human-like panic and dread within those vertical pupils that were usually filled with lava-like rage.
And not far in front of it, compared to the massive shadow that nearly covered the entire area...
Was a violently swaying cream-white robe, and the blurred outline of a slender, frail figure beneath the clothing.
Eyes closed, a deep chestnut ponytail drenched in rain leaped incessantly.
Keeping Virole's warnings firmly in mind.
*Woom—*
A grayish-white sword light flashed; the decapitating longsword had already left its scabbard.
"Stay alert!"
Shanan barked in a low voice, simultaneously turning his back, his dark eyes scanning the surroundings.
With the Red Dragon controlled by the spell, the people who had been affected by the Dragon Awe gradually recovered.
The sound of "shring-shring" echoed through the air.
Daggers, rapiers, and longbows were firmly gripped in their hands.
Dragon Awe is a psychological intimidation unique to dragons; while it may cause a brief loss of thinking and acting ability, it doesn't render one completely oblivious to everything happening externally.
Hayan, Wood, and the others had naturally heard Virole's instructions clearly.
Although they didn't know how she had done it, in this moment of crisis, there was simply no time to think or ask.
The moment they regained their ability to move, they each drew their weapons and professionally guarded her.
They remained vigilant against anything in the surroundings that might interfere with the casting.
It was impossible for them not to be nervous; after all, everyone on the field knew exactly what would happen if the casting were interrupted.
At that point, the enraged Red Dragon would undoubtedly use its dragon breath to burn them all to ashes.
The black fringe of hair on his forehead was wet with rain. In the corner of his eye was the crimson, floating body of the Red Dragon, while his gaze remained fixed on the open wasteland before him.
For some reason, Shanan suddenly felt a sense of absurdity.
Just two days ago, he was huddled in a tavern drinking local specialty Red-Scale Mushroom Soup, wondering if adding two more slices of cheese would make it taste better.
Now, with this body that had only just stepped onto the path of a professional, he was acting as a guardian for a caster of unknown strength and an adult Red Dragon.
Recalling the previous few commissions—which initially seemed unremarkable but ended up with various strange things popping up out of nowhere—
Shanan suddenly began to doubt himself.
A gathering commission landed him in a secret realm; a promotion quest that was supposed to be a symbolic formality led him to crash head-on into a suspected evil god; and after finally finding a few professional teammates, he ended up cutting off all their heads.
"I may be an adventurer... but isn't my professional career a bit too 'exciting'?"
Other people might brag in taverns, but none of them were like him.
"Fuck!"
Shanan cursed inwardly, already forming the intention to find an easy-going deity to pray to once he returned to the city.
*Boom—*
The world under the torrential rain brightened for an instant, followed by the belated roar of thunder.
Located in the sparsely vegetated Molten Scale Mountains, even though the sky was currently overcast and the rain fell like a curtain, making the environment quite dim...
It still allowed for decent visibility.
At the edge of his vision, all the way to the tops of the undulating hills in the distance, every living thing was clearly visible.
Because of the Dragon Awe released when the Red Dragon landed, the surroundings had become exceptionally empty; Shanan didn't see a single one of the most common wild rabbits or four-legged lizards of the mountains.
Obviously, no creature would dare approach this place to seek its own demise.
The factor most likely to interfere with Virole's casting actually didn't come from the outside, but rather...
Shanan's eyes shifted slightly, his gaze sweeping over his teammates.
Although he didn't say it explicitly, the fact that he stood significantly further back than the others, closer to the mage girl's position, already explained his thoughts.
If any member of the party truly lost their mind and launched an attack on Virole or the Red Dragon...
With his speed and explosive power, he should be able to intercept the attack before the mage or the dragon were affected.
Perhaps he was overthinking it; at least for now, even the Dragonborn Sava—who harbored a racial hatred for dragons and was most likely to act impulsively—was currently obediently gripping her rapier, keeping watch for everyone.
With his concentration highly focused, time seemed to slow down significantly.
Only five minutes had passed, but for everyone on the field, it felt like five hours.
As the magical radiance flickering in the air became increasingly bright and blinding, the turbulent magic particles grew so dense they seemed as if they could merge into the rain.
Finally, with a soft sound—entirely different from the previous massive commotion, like a balloon popping without being fully inflated—
*Pop.*
The massive crimson figure, along with the slender, frail girl in front of it, vanished from the spot instantaneously without any warning.
Only the smell of sulfur gradually dissipating under the rain and the scorch marks of dragon breath extending to the back of the hills indicated everything they had just experienced.
*Thump.*
Still clutching his longbow, the half-elf Hayan suddenly collapsed onto the muddy ground as if all his strength had vanished.
Sweat and raindrops mixed on his pale face, indistinguishable; he panted heavily, the exhaustion on his face visible to the naked eye.
As an ordinary person who had not yet obtained a professional level, being able to endure the Dragon Awe and force his body to guard his teammates for so long meant he had already reached his absolute limit.
Beside him, Wood also let out a heavy sigh of relief, his expression appearing exceptionally dazed, and the right hand supporting his young master was trembling violently.
Sava was in even worse shape; her tall body, like an upright lizard, dropped directly onto all fours, sprawling on the ground.
A lizard head, seventy percent similar to the fire dragon's, hung low, and thick saliva dripped uncontrollably from her mouth.
Among the group, Shanan's performance was the best.
Perhaps it was because his psychological fortitude was naturally good, or perhaps his physical attributes and feats, which far exceeded those of a professional of the same level, gave him resistance to intimidation effects.
Though he felt the same lingering fear in his heart, there were no obvious changes in his outward appearance.
He even took the initiative to step forward and help Sava up from the ground.
"How are you? You okay?"
"I'm... I'm alright," Sava replied, panting and waving her hand.
However, her vertical pupils couldn't help but look toward the place where Luca had been burned to ashes by the dragon breath in front of everyone.
"So now... we just wait for Virole to come back, like she said?"
Although it was a question, the fact that she asked it, combined with the Dragonborn's tone, made her thoughts easy to guess.
Clearly, the Red Dragon had given her too much of a scare.
Right now, Sava just wanted to leave this godforsaken place as quickly as possible.
Shanan even suspected that if it weren't for the fact that they were alone in the middle of nowhere, she might have requested to leave the party and go back on her own right then and there.
"Let's wait thirty minutes first. If she's not back after half an hour..."
Wood interrupted with a serious expression.
He also seemed to have no intention of staying put for two hours as Virole had previously mentioned.
Being Hayan's personal guard, the latter's safety was the thing Wood needed to protect most at this moment.
It was a fact that Virole had taken the danger away from them, but staying behind to wait for half an hour was already an act of great kindness and loyalty for him; he could not risk any more.
Shanan opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but before he could speak...
Suddenly, under the veil of rain, a bright silver-white luster flashed across his vision.
Looking closely, he saw an oval metal piece embedded in the mud of the ground.
"The Dreamweave Corridor?"
It wasn't banished to the other dimension along with the Red Dragon?
Surprised, Shanan stepped forward, intending to pick it up from the mud.
Beside him, a yellowish-brown figure, like a hound pouncing on prey, charged forward directly.
Previously, she hadn't thought much of the metal piece Luca had found in town. But after what had just happened, connecting it to the knights of the Morton family in town, the lost heirloom of Duke Morton, and the abnormal behavior of the Red Dragon flying down specifically for this item...
Sava had already formed a hypothesis about the object's origin.
Seeing that it remained on the field, she naturally pounced on it.
However, her speed was ultimately a fraction too slow.
Just as she stood beside the metal piece, leaning down and reaching her hands toward the ground...
A rapier, thin as a bee's sting, quietly emerged from the seemingly empty air behind her.
*Squelch.*
Smooth and precise, it pierced through the cervical vertebrae.
Blood, mixed with rain, dripped onto the silver-white surface of the Dreamweave Corridor.
(End of Chapter)