The Guardian System: The strongest Summoner's quest to save his family Chapter 359 359: Ancient Stone-Eater Behemoth (1)

An hour later, the notifications finally stopped, and Reidar watched the interface for a full minute to make sure the red text would not flash again.

While the temperature remained hot, resembling a sweltering sumr day in the tropics, the searing, oven-like intensity had vanished, and the air felt thinner and less choked with particulates.

"Land," Reidar said, and as the raven descended, it flared its wings to break its speed before touching down on a grey stone plateau.

After sliding off his mount and feeling his boots crunch against the gravel, he took a deep breath that still tasted weird because of the planet's chemicals but that at least no longer burned his lungs.

He dismissed the raven to conserve his mana and sat on a flat rock to focus, closing his eyes to shift his perspective from his body into the network of minds he controlled.

Once he connected to the Vorathid Sky-Hunters, his vision shifted, replacing the grey plateau with a high-altitude view of the badlands miles in front of him.

Looking through the eyes of his summon, he saw Mara navigating ridges. She had stopped using teleportation, which hinted at her mana reserves being low or being saved for an ergency, as she climbed hand over hand up a steep incline.

Reidar adjusted the Sky-Hunter's position to keep distant. He was not going to repeat the mistake he had made in the cave near Ashwick. Mara was better than Silas at noticing spies, as she noticed his Vorathid Sky-Hunter, whereas Silas didn't.

Mara had taken advantage of that mistake, using it to lure him into the trap that stranded him on this planet.

He spread the Sky-Hunters out in a wide periter, making sure they weren't just watching her but also the miles of empty rock around her, creating a surveillance net that worked as a moving bubble.

The problem was that the terrain, with its deep shadows and blind spots, made tracking difficult, as he had to anticipate her movents and reposition the hunters to keep visual contact, but at least it allowed him to avoid his summons from being spotted.

Through the link, he saw her stumble and catch her breath on a boulder, looking back the way she had co.

Yet she failed to see the Vorathid Sky-Hunters.

Reidar kept the connection open to monitor her every move while his body rested on the plateau miles away. Although he was safe for the mont, he understood that his survival depended on the woman he was stalking, and he needed her to feel safe enough to stop so that she could finally begin making the magic circle.

However, Mara did nothing of the sort; instead, she collapsed.

She simply sat down in the shadow of a large rock and didn't get up. She leaned her head back against the stone, closing her eyes. She was done.

Reidar watched her through the eyes of a Sky-Hunter. The area she had chosen was a small depression in the rock, sheltered from the wind but exposed from above. It was a terrible defensive position, which confird how really exhausted she was. She didn't have the energy to find a better alternative.