Legacy of the Dark Sage

After resting for a few hours and finding something to eat from the things they had taken from the bandits’ campsite, Kyran went on his way.

The old man watched Kyran’s progress through the projection orb from inside the Void World. Although he was amazed at the speed at which the latter traveled through feet, what truly shocked him was that they had not encountered any beast in the forest.

The old man did not tell Kyran about it for fear he would not agree to help, but the truth was the forest route going to the Great Divide was filled with ferocious beasts.

However, after traveling for almost a day, they only encountered the bandits.𝗈𝑽𝑙xt.𝗇𝓔t

The old man knew this incident was not about luck. Instead, he felt the beasts likely sensed the hidden danger they would encounter if they messed with Kyran.

Call it a beast’s natural instinct. And they were right to stay clear of Kyran’s path, or else their fate would end worse than the bandits. After all, beast parts could sell for a hefty price. As for the bandits, it was unfortunate that the Law of the Land protected them. Thus, they did not have any bounty rewards.

It was a different matter to beast-likes and complete beings living in Howling Pass, though. Since that place was lawless, a bounty could be placed on them.

Then again, did Kyran even need money at this point? The treasures he confiscated from the bandits were enough for him to live a life of leisure for a hundred years in Somuli.

‘Alas, the generation of this day sure know how to make fast money without having to work their butt off,’ the old man sighed.

He did not mean to share his thoughts with Kyran, but the latter did hear it and raised his brows.

‘What are you even saying, old man?’ He asked. ‘If it is about the things I took from the bandits, I won’t use them for myself. Those things are useless to me but can be used by your people.’

The old man’s eyes lit up from his words. He was so moved by how thoughtful Kyran was to his people!

But as he thought this, a disclaimer seemed to pop into his head with words saying: Robbing others— even if they were bad people— was not good to begin with, so please do not think of using it to solve your money problems!

The old man cleared his throat and said, ‘Thank you. That is very thoughtful of you.’

‘Don’t thank me yet. We don’t know the situation at the borders now, so those things might not be enough.’

The old man sighed.

Before encountering the bandits, Kyran had asked him about the border situation. Unfortunately, he could only give him a rough overview because the last update he received was from a month ago.

It was understandable, given the fastest route to Eidum’s mainland, Aidel, was the ferocious beasts-infested forest. And even if their messenger managed to survive, it was at least half a month’s travel. If they went through the normal route, the news would take almost two months to arrive in Aidel.

Based on the news the old man received, they would soon be short on supplies and were requesting them. Unfortunately, though they had the supplies, they could not send them over due to the problem with the bandits.

The old man said nothing when Kyran took the bandits’ treasures. But truth be told, some of them were familiar goods from Aidel, which was the first batch of supplies they dispatched for the Border. That first batch was attacked on the way, and though none of the complete beings died, all the supplies were stolen.

It took a while, and the process was a little twisted, but at least those supplies would now benefit his people at the border.

‘Still, thank you.’ The old man still insisted on thanking Kyran.

Kyran did not reply and only focus on moving forward.

Thud.

Kyran suddenly made an abrupt stop at one of the tree branches and hid.

Noticing his action, the old man frowned and asked, ‘What’s wrong?’

‘There is a thick stench if blood up ahead.’

The old man’s heart sank. He calculated their distance and knew they were still a day or two away from the border. If Kyran could already smell the stench of blood up ahead, did that mean the situation had worsened after the last update?

Sensing the old man’s apprehension, Kyran knew well how dreadful it felt, wondering about the condition of your people and yet hopeless to do anything.

But compared to his situation in the Human plane, the old man had someone to rely on.

Ahem.

Kyran coughed inwardly, thinking how he just boldly called himself reliable.

‘Old man,’ he called after contemplating what he had to do. ‘I’m going to get serious for a bit. I’ll have to stop the projector.’

‘I understand.’

After the old man answered, Kyran cut off his connection with the orb inside the Void World. After that, his eyes turned reddish-purple, with his pupils turning into silver slits.

This was him getting serious— circulating both the Void and the Draconic magic simultaneously.

A dark purple and silver armor covered his body in an instant as he warped to the location where the smell of blood was the strongest.

The scene that greeted Kyran was that of carnage.

Sliced bodies of beast-likes and complete beings littered the ground, their blood and internal organs mingled, unable to discern whose part belonged to whom.

Signs of a fierce battle could be seen in the area with crushed trees, cracks and holes on the ground, and flames caught on what was left of the trees around.

Kyran employed his magic sense and observed the area around him. Due to the thin magic energy in the surroundings, the things he could make out with his magic sense were limited.

It was strange how magic energy in Somuli was scarce in areas with fewer people.

As far as Kyran was concerned, the magic energy should be thinner in crowded places because loads of people were either absorbing magic energies or using them to do magic.

In any case, it took Kyran a few minutes before he found a clue as to where the perpetrators or survivors went and chased them post-haste.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

While traveling, Kyran heard explosions erupt one after another upfront. He stopped in his tracks and checked what was happening ahead with his enhanced eyesight.

There he found a group of complete beings in white and blue leather armor, fighting several beast-likes and complete beings dressed in black and silver armor.

Kyran immediately recognized the complete beings in leather armor because the design on their clothes was similar to the old man’s.

“You Eidums think you own the land! But this place is ours. Get your filthy asses out of here!”

A beast-like, whose body was thrice the size of Kyran’s, shouted as he slammed a huge hammer on the ground, sending the complete beings in leather armor stumbling backward.

Then, a complete being in black armor waved a golden staff, summoning dark clouds above them.

The old man’s people struggled to get up and retreat after seeing the dark clouds. From the looks of terror on their faces, it appeared they knew what was in store for them once the complete being’s cast was completed.

But before they could move, several beast-likes and complete beings surrounded them. Some even attacked directly, not worried they would get caught up with whatever those dark clouds unleashed. Their heart was filled with hatred, and only wanted nothing more than to spill the blood of their enemies.

As the complete beings in leather armor were in a state of panic, and the enemy beast-likes and complete beings continued to attack them on all sides, the body of the one summoning the dark clouds suddenly convulsed.

SPLAT!

In a blink of an eye, the complete being’s body exploded, with her blood, flesh, and internal organs spraying everywhere.

“What?”

Those who were nearby were stunned after getting sprayed by something. They did not notice the complete being’s body exploding.

But it did not take long for them to realize something was wrong as the dark clouds began to disperse.

As for the beast-likes and complete beings attacking the old man’s people, they did not realize something was amiss.

“Look out!”

Someone shouted out of the blue. However, whoever that warning was meant to, failed to respond, and the next moment, blood started to gush out from his body.

“Guah!” The beast-like shouted as his body was suddenly cut in half.

One of the old man’s people he was chasing was too shocked at how suddenly he died, and he was petrified on the spot.

Meanwhile, a gust of wind swept past him, and another enemy was slain the next moment.

The old man’s people were stunned as the enemies surrounding them fell dead one after another. They only felt a gust of wind passed them before blood gushed out from the enemies’ bodies. It was truly a frightening sight to behold.

It was normal to fear the unknown.

However, seeing only the enemies were killed by whatever was moving around them, the old man’s people were not worried. They were still afraid, but there was also a sense of relief.

The enemies who appeared to be in control earlier realized they were no match for the unseen predator and began to escape.

Unfortunately, their unseen predator had no plans of letting them go alive.