Chapter 14

Du Weldenvarden

Three white horses with riders cantered through the ancient woods of Du Weldenvarden, their heads held high and proud, their coats rippling in the moonlight like liquid silver.

On the first horse was an elf with pointed ears and elegantly slanted eyebrows. His build was slim but strong, like a rapier.

A powerful bow was slung on his back. A sword pressed against his side opposite a quiver of arrows fletched with swan feathers.

The last rider had the same fair face and angled features as the others. He carried a long spear in his right hand and a white dagger around his belt. A helm of extraordinary craftsmanship, wrought with amber and gold, rested on his head.

In between these two rode a raven-haired elven lady, who surveyed her surroundings with poise. Framed by long black locks, her deep eyes shone with a driving force. Her clothes were unadorned, yet her beauty was undiminished. At her side was a sword, and on her back was a long bow with a quiver. She carried in her lap a pouch that she frequently looked at, as if to reassure herself that it was still there.

The Elven lady was clearly the one in command. Just as her guards were changing places, a sudden change in the wind's direction carried a steed towards them. Elven had extremely sharp senses and didn't need the warning of their horses to recognize them. Urgals. An Ambush!

While her two guards prepared themselves for the impeding battle, the Horse of the Elven Lady rushed far ahead of them, prioritizing her duty of protecting the pouch she was carrying. Only its safety mattered, or all was lost.

No longer hiding, the horde of Urgals released a hail of Black Arrows at the elves, effectively killing the two guards with the sudden ambush. A crimson-haired man with maroon eyes, a Shade, was leading them and shouted, "After her! She is the one I want!"

The Urgals rushed after the elven lady over the bloddied remains of the fallen elves while the Shade shot a red bolt at her "Garjzla!" It hit her white steed as it toppled with a high-pitched squeal, plowing into the ground chest-first.

But the elf leapt off it with inhuman speed, spotting her dead guards. She carried on while releasing a pained cry for her companions and rushed into the forest, away from the Urgals chasing her.

It didn't matter; the shade wouldn't let her escape. He climbed on a piece of granite that jutted above them and raised his hand as he uttered, "Istalrí boetk!" A quarter-mile section of the forest exploded into flames.

He burned one section after the other until there was a ring of fire, a half-mile across, around the ambush site. The band of fire thickened as the Shade watched his work carefully. It marked out the search area for his Urgals.

Suddenly there were screams, and three Urgals fell as he spotted glimpses of the Elf running from the remaining Urgals. She headed directly in his direction as he leapt from the granite landing in front of her.

She turned around, speeding back to the trail, the black blood of the Urgals dripping from her blade and staining the pouch in her hand. The Urgals cut off her escape route. The Shade enjoyed her helplessness as she found no escape route while he approached her with a raised hand and said, "Get her."

A crowd of horned humanoid monsters rushed at her as the elf pulled the pouch open, pulling something out of it before it fell onto the ground. She suddenly held a sapphire stone in her hands that reflected the fire surrounding them.

The elf girl held it high above her head, words frantically forming on her lips. Suddenly the Shade was no longer enjoying her panic; desperate, he shouted, "Garjzla!" and a ball of red flames rushed from his hand at the Elf.

It was too late; in the emerald light, the stone vanished, and just at the red light, it impacted her. The impact sent her into the air, towards the granite, where she hit a door, which got forcefully pushed open, and the elf girl landed inside.

This door hadn't been there before, but the enraged Shade wouldn't let her escape. Before he could even consider how a door had appeared in this place, he rushed behind her through the door, his remaining Urgals following him.

————

Harry Potter POV

Harry was bored; it had been days since he had opened his interdimensional trader and placed the door. After leveling the skill and giving a notification, nothing else happened. The worst was that he couldn't grind the skill.

[ Interdimensional Trader (Active/Passive) Lv. 2: A Skill Received Through the Essence of the Interdimensional Trader, Allowing the User to Turn a building in his possession into an Interdimensional Store, Connecting It to the Multiverse].

Sub-Skills:

Create Store (Active): Creates a dimensional store in an owned building (1/1).

Appraise (active): The ability to appraise objects for their value and relevant trading information.

Close / Open Store (Active): The ability to lock and open the door. ]

This skill gets leveled through sales. More expensive sales grant more experience.

Yes, he needed customers to grind the skill. He had tried to open the door that had materialized himself, but it wouldn't budge. It just gave him a warning.

[ Skill level is too low! ]

So he had nothing much to do. He grinded some smaller spells from Sirius Books that didn't do much damage and had to wait for his first customer. Harry was uncertain how exactly the skill was working. But he didn't want to risk it, leave his store alone, and miss the first customer. He kept it always open, since a customer could arrive at any time; the earlier the better. His inventory was stocked with enough rations.

Here he was sitting behind the counter while practicing the Bubble Head Charm, a useful spell that would allow him to survive in all kinds of environments while being completely harmless, so he could grind it inside.

Just when he cancelled the spell for the x-thousandth time, the door opened violently with a large bang. Something flew at high speed at him. Before Harry even recognized what it was, he instinctively cast the first spell coming to his mind, "Arresto Momentum!"

It was a girl. She is an extremely beautiful girl with long raven black hair and tawny skin.

She was very tall—higher than himself. But the most outstanding feature he could make out while she slowed through his spell and carefully landed on the floor were her ears. They were pointed. She looked like an elf.

She also seemed to be hurt, as she was breathing frantically and had a large wound on her side.

Before Harry could use Observe on her to learn what was going on, a man rushed through the door, followed by the ugliest creatures Harry had seen yet. While the man beyond his crimson hair and maroon eyes looked human, The creatures following him had horns and yellow to grayish skin covered in bristle-like hair.

'Observe.'

[ Name: Durza Gender: Male

Occupation: Sorcerer

Level: 233

Age: 114 Race: Shade (Human)

HP: 12320 MP: 27500

STR: 322 VIT: 231

INT: 511 WIS: 316

DEX: 216 CHA: 129

LCK: 115

Reputation: -30 (disliked)

Description: A Powerful Shade in the Service of King Galbatorix. Though he is always seeking ways to undermine the King, Currently, he is on a mission to capture the Elf Arya and the item she is transporting. ]

"What do we have here?" Durza asked, his eyes falling on Harry after seeing the hurt Elf on the floor, "A fascinating piece of space magic." How are you doing this? You don't seem to have enough power for such feats, humans."

'SHIT! I'm dead.' Harry thought as he realized how powerful Durza was. There was no way for him to beat the shade, but seeing the reputation he had with him, there wasn't much to do to talk with him.

He was already disliked, and if he remembers right, then Shades were cruel and evil beings. Being in front of him wouldn't hestiate to torture him.

"Answer me, human. Or, you know what, you can join her. I will learn your secrets. Garjzla!" Durza said with an outstretched hand pointed at Harry before Harry could even react to put up a shield.

But nothing happened.

[Non-Combat Zone]

[Offensive Magic is canceled. ]

'Oh, good. Maybe this works too?' "You are not welcome here, Shade!" Harry said it firmly after reading the notification.

"I don't know how you are stopping my magic. But I don't believe you are strong enough to overpower me and these beasts." Durza said with visible curiosity in his eyes that as he unsheated his sword, it gave off an evil presence.

"Oh, I think I can." Harry said it smugly. His eyes lit up because of the window that had appeared in front of him.

Do you wish to ban Durza Lv. 233 and his party from your store? [Yes or No ]

"Goodbye, Shade." Harry said as he selected yes, and Durza and his Urgals vanished in a rainbow light, and the door had closed. Meanwhile, the elf on his floor fell unconscious.

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