Legacy of the Dark Sage

Whooosh! Whooosh! Whooosh!

Blade-like winds came at Kyran in several directions. The distance between them was too compact that even with his stature and flexibility, it would be impossible to dodge successfully.

An attack like that could only be made by someone who had years of practice because it only took that person a few tries to adjust the aim and distance of the attack.

‘Young man, what are you doing? Do that disappearing act and escape!’

Kyran chuckled inwardly after hearing the old man’s warning.

He would not have been able to dodge the blade-like attack if he had been a normal combat mage. Unfortunately for his assailant, he was the Void Master.

Teleporting to dodge the attack was simple. But Kyran did not want to do that because there were far too many enemies around, and there was no telling if one of them managed to escape and alert their leaders that they found a suspicious mage that could teleport.

Because of this, instead of teleporting, he decided to use the nature of his magic to counter.

Using the Void Barrier was too flashy. Its color was an obvious giveaway of its origin as well.

Thus, Kyran only used an invisible force to nullify the blade-like winds.

“What?”

Upon seeing his attack vanish, the assailant froze in his spot.

Kyran detected this movement, and his eyes flashed silver as he used the Dragon Steps to close in on him.

‘W-What? You did not teleport just now, did you not? I saw a blur before the scene changed just now. That is not the case when you teleported!’

The old man commented in Kyran’s head.

Ignoring the old man’s live commentary, Kyran appeared in front of his assailant.

“Idiot! Don’t space out and move!”

One of the assailant’s team members shouted while simultaneously attacking Kyran from the side. His whole arm burst into flames before he punched out.

A whirling blaze shot out from the enemy’s flaming hands and went straight at Kyran.

The assailant snapped out of his initial shock and took this chance to jump back as the flames engulfed his target.

But before he could do so, a hand shot forward from the flames and grabbed his neck.

“Gack!” The assailant was shocked.

From amidst the blazing flames, he saw the eyes of his target, a puny beast-like, glow silver as he stared at him. Besides that, he was surprised at how much power the latter possessed given his small stature.

It should be noted that Kyran’s assailant was at least three times bigger, making him appear ‘puny.’ But a difference in size meant nothing because of his improved body. He also circulated the Draconic magic, which enhanced his physical abilities by a hundredfold.

“How was he okay in that flames?” The enemy with the flaming hands exclaimed in fright. Suddenly, he thought of something and shouted, “H-He is an Imon-spawn!”

Kyran ignored the other enemies and dealt with his assailant first. Adding a little force to his fingers, they sank into the beast-like’s neck.

“Guah!” The struggling assailant let out a choked scream as blood gushed out of his neck.

With a swift movement of his free hand, Kyran slashed below the beast-like’s eyes. His assailant did not know what happened as the top of his head flew up, blood gushing out like a fountain.

After that, Kyran released his hold even before the blood of the beast-like could fall on his clothes. Then, before the beast-like’s body fell completely to the ground, Kyran was already gone.

“An Imon-spawn! Run!”𝗈𝑽𝑙xt.𝗇𝓔t

Another enemy shouted after seeing Kyran’s glowing silver eyes and fast movements.

Unfortunately, none of them could outrun him before using Dragon Steps; what more now that he was using it?

In a flash, Kyran beheaded six more beast-like, while the rest ran as if it was death chasing them rather than another ‘beast-like.’

Meanwhile, watching the scene outside the Void World being projected by a large semi-transparent orb in the room Kyran’s puppets led him in, the old man fell silent.

It was not his first time witnessing beast-like getting killed. But it was his first time witnessing a slaughter. Kyran did not even give the rest of the beast-like to fight back when he started his assault. It made the old man wonder why he did not kill them the first time they chased after him.

Thinking back on it, the old man soon realized that it was not that the beast-likes chased after Kyran but that he led them out of their camp.

Going back a few hours earlier, after they left town, the old man was surprised at the speed of how Kyran travelled in the forest. He initially said they would arrive in a week’s time, but at the speed at which the latter moved, it would not be strange if they arrived in three days.

In any case, after travelling for almost a day, they came across a campsite of beast-like. There they overheard them talking about their next target. From their conversation, Kyran and the old man realized they were the ones who took advantage of the law and killed off complete beings.

The old man was angered. But because the law was absolute, that was all he could do. Be angry.

However, Kyran had a different take on it as he revealed his presence. The moment the bandits realized he heard their conversation, they immediately went after him.

Kyran looked weak, being of small stature compared to the bandits. Thus, it was no wonder they would think they could get rid of him easily.

Alas, it was too late to regret chasing after him.

A few minutes later, all of the beast-likes were killed. Kyran then returned to their camp, which only had a few beast-likes left, and continued his slaughter.

Finally, after clearing their camp, he rummaged through their treasures and had his puppets take them back to the Void World.

The old man’s expression turned blank upon seeing this. Unable to stay silent longer, he asked, ‘You… did you slaughter them just to steal their treasures? They may be bandits, but…’

‘As far as I know, these guys took advantage of the law that protected the beast-like and got several complete beings killed,’ Kyran replied indifferently. ‘I don’t see any reason in letting them live.’

At the moment, he was inside the bandit leader’s room, browsing the books in the latter’s collection.

‘That is true… However….’ The old man was no Saint. He had done things others might deem unforgivable. But he had a bottom line he would never step on, and that was killing others.

‘Old man,’ Kyran started with a sigh. ‘I get that you are not used to this, but aren’t you asking my help for exactly the same reason? Now that you saw what I can do, instead of feeling sorry for these guys, shouldn’t you feel relief that the person you employed is capable enough?’

”Capable enough,” the old man repeated with a slight shake of his head. ‘This is more than being capable. Are you trying to be humble?’

‘I’m not,’ Kyran replied with a shrug, returning an old book with a tattered leather cover to the bookshelf. He looked at the rest of the titles and took another one. It had the same tattered cover but was thicker than the last book.

‘I’m not delusional to think I can take on those people fighting in the borders. Where I came from, almost all the talented mages and combat mages are stationed in the borders. This is to prevent other nations from invading the land. This means the enemies your people are trying to keep out of your land are powerful.’

‘That is… true. But as I said, I never ask you to resolve the border issue, only that you save my people.’

Kyran chuckled, ‘You don’t really believe I can save your people without winning the battle at the border, right?’

‘The agreement is to let my people fall back once the situation at the border stabilized. The Sovereign never asked us to win the war.’

‘He is basically telling your people to die. Why are you trying to cover for him?’ Kyran asked exasperatedly.

‘Just turn a blind eye to what I do, alright?’

‘You do not understand,’ the old man shook his head sadly. ‘The law that protected the beast-like folks is absolute. If the deaths of these bandits are discovered, the beast-likes will do everything to point the blame on the complete beings.’

‘I thought as much,’ Kyran nodded in agreement. ‘That’s why I won’t leave a trace. I will make it appear as if they had been spirited away.’

‘You— how would you even do that?’

Before he could even complete his question, Kyran pointed at the body of the bandit leader lying near the door. Then a reddish-purple mist came out from the ground and enveloped the body. Once the mist cleared, the body, including the blood, vanished.

‘How…?’

Kyran had his doubts when the old man admitted he did not know him all that well— that he had only seen some things about him. But sensing the old man’s surprise, Kyran was convinced he did not know about the story of the infamous new ‘Dark Sage.’

‘Looks like I’m not that ‘infamous,’ after all,’ Kyran replied with a slight chuckle.

‘What does that mean?’

‘You’ll find out soon enough,’ Kyran replied and went back to browsing through the bandit leader’s collection.

‘What are you even reading? If you want to know anything about our plane, you can ask me,’ the old man said.

Kyran shook his head and said, ‘I’m looking for something like a ledger.’

‘Ledger?’

‘Yes. I don’t think these bandits decided to take advantage of the law on a whim. Someone gave them the idea. I may be able to find a clue if I find their ledger and check all the names they had transactions with.’

‘Would bandits even negotiate with others?’ The old man asked doubtfully.

‘Why not? Where I came from, they would do everything, even plot against each other to earn more money.’

‘I realized your plane is rather chaotic.’

Kyran only chuckled in response.

The old man sighed in defeat and let the younger man continue with what he was doing.

Finally, when Kyran still did not find anything, he returned his puppets to the Void World and cleaned up the bandit’s campsite. He also repaired the damage he made when he attacked.

Upon seeing this, the old man could not help but be surprised again. There were mages in their plane that could repair broken items, but they required plenty of materials to do so.

How was Kyran repairing things without needing any additional materials?

‘Ah, that’s right. Old man.’

Kyran’s call brought the old man out of his contemplation.

‘What is it?’

‘What do an Imon-spawn mean?’