Wayland turned his gaze toward the tranquil surface of the lake.
Elena stepped up beside him. "You've realized it too?"
"Underwater. It's the least likely place to be discovered."
"Exactly. It seems Flyn was simply unlucky enough to stumble across them at the most critical moment. Otherwise, unless you were specifically looking for it, you'd never notice anything unusual about the lake."
Wayland didn't know how to respond; Flyn really had been cursed with terrible luck. Given the culprit's level of power and the fact that the activity was underwater, any minor ripples or disturbances would likely have been written off as a large fish or a natural occurrence. One would have had to be observing the surface with extreme focus to notice the discrepancy.
But when Flyn had entered the garden, the ritual array must have been in the middle of its activation. The culprit had been forced to act, placing him under Dominion to keep the secret safe.
"Do you know any water-repelling spells?" Elena asked. She reached into her imaginary space and produced three powerful waterproof flashlights, tossing one to Wayland.
"I do, but I can't maintain it for very long. I'll have to rely on you, Senior."
Wayland nodded. He had no intention of spending another five hundred pounds to strengthen his own water-repelling capabilities if he could avoid it.
Elena raised her hand, and a ritual circle materialized in the air. It dissolved into a brilliant blue curtain of light that draped over the three of them.
"This should last for an hour."
With that, Elena dove into the lake, followed quickly by two more splashes.
The three of them sank rapidly through the dark water.
Wayland switched on his flashlight. The beam cut through the gloom, illuminating the stone pillars that supported the central island garden.
"Nothing here."
"Clear on this side."
"Nothing over here either."
None of them found any trace of a ritual array on the pillars. After descending thirty meters, Wayland's feet finally touched the lakebed.
The silt wasn't particularly thick; he could just make out the smooth surface of stone slabs beneath.
Wayland leaned down, flashlight in one hand as he brushed away the silt with the other, revealing an abnormally smooth expanse of marble.
"The silt isn't thick enough here. If you were to set up a ritual array on top of it, it wouldn't remain stable; even a slight current would shift the components. Large-scale arrays are incredibly sensitive to the placement of lines and nodes; even a minor deviation can ruin the entire effect."
"Because this is an artificial lake, the bottom is paved with marble. It's flat, stable, and easy to clean. If you destroy the array and then cover the area with silt, it wouldn't take long for all traces to vanish. The array must have been laid directly onto the marble instead of being buried in the silt."
Having finished his analysis, Wayland looked up at the murky surroundings. The lake was approximately a hundred meters long and thirty to forty meters wide--staggeringly large for an artificial body of water. Ritual arrays, however, had no fixed size; they could be anything from a few inches to hundreds of feet across.
Elena glanced around. "If I were the culprit, I'd choose the center of the lake. The further out you go, the more likely you are to be spotted from the shore. The slopes are only forty meters away; if someone were paying attention, they might notice the fluctuations of such a large array."
"Then we'll search outward from the center," Louis agreed, starting to drift away from the stone island.
"Wait."
Elena called him back. "Stand behind me, both of you. I'll clear the silt first."
She began a low, rhythmic chant.
A ritual circle expanded silently into the water. Like a slow, deep breath, a long trail of bubbles erupted from the array and spiraled toward the surface.
The water around them began to move, slowly at first, then rapidly accelerating. Under the glare of the flashlights, the currents split into two, then four, and finally dozens of pale blue, snake-like ribbons that danced around Elena.
She pushed her hands outward.
The ritual circle expanded, and the water-snakes lunged in every direction. The silt was swept away in layers, accumulating into thick mounds. Within seconds, a ten-meter radius around the center was stripped bare, revealing the clean marble floor.
Elena gave a small shudder as a transparent barrier rapidly expanded, sealing off the cleared area from the surrounding silt-laden water.
"Check it quickly. The water pressure is intense, and the barrier won't hold for long before the lake begins to cave back in."
Wayland and Louis didn't waste any time. They immediately split up and began to search the exposed marble.
Wayland headed east.
The silt had been cleared thoroughly, and the beam of his flashlight revealed every detail of the stone floor. He covered the ten-meter distance quickly, but found nothing.
After a moment, he returned to the group. The others had been equally unsuccessful.
"Could it be further out?" Louis asked.
"Possibly." Elena looked into the darkness beyond the barrier, her expression tight. Clearing the entire lakebed would be a monumental task, even for her, and the magical activity would be impossible to hide.
Wayland closed his eyes. He mentally recited the rune for 'Light,' and a brilliant white clarity flooded his mind.
'There is no doubt that the ritual array was destroyed. A culprit this meticulous would never leave a glaring trail behind.'
Wayland opened his eyes and knelt down, his fingers tracing the fine fissures and patterns on the marble's surface. "These marks were formed by years of erosion from the currents; they're small, irregular, and perfectly natural. If I were the one hiding an array, I would disguise its marks to match this exact pattern."
Elena's head snapped toward him, her eyes bright with excitement. "You're right! If your analysis is correct, the 'disguised' marks would be far newer than the natural ones. A Time Retrogression would be the best way to prove it, but the cost is too high--and for an array of this level, we'd likely need a Lord-tier time spell for it to be effective. What other options do we have?"
"Wait! Chronology Magecraft! The Mineralogy Department has spells that can date the age of minerals. But I've never studied it... have either of you?"
"Aside from Mineralogy students, who would even be bored enough to learn something like that?" Louis asked with a helpless shake of his head.
"I have."
"?"
Louis stared at Wayland in pure bewilderment. "Why on earth would you learn Chronology Magecraft?"
Wayland offered a modest smile. "Since my own talent is... lacking, I thought it best to learn as many basic spells as possible."
He obviously wasn't going to tell Louis that he'd learned it in preparation for seeking out mineral-based Saint Graphs--like the legendary Round Table of the Knights of the Round Table.
"Alright, Wayland, go ahead."
Elena didn't press him; she was becoming accustomed to the surprises this junior constanty provided. She had finally made up her mind about something.
Wayland stepped forward, his Magic Circuits flaring to life. He pressed his palms against the marble, and two ritual circles expanded across the floor.
As the arrays covered the ten-meter area, a brilliant flash of light erupted. The light peeled away from the floor, hovering seven or eight inches above the stone, revealing countless fine lines and marks that resembled a tangled mess of thread floating in the water.
"Filter out the oldest marks," Elena directed. "Leave only the most recent ones."
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]