Legacy of the Dark Sage

With the giant automaton summoned by the white-robed man blocking the massive fissure, the gigantic automaton and its fellow automatons managed to avoid getting pulled in as well.

Mo’s team summoned their Divine Armaments and engaged Breira and his group in another battle below while Mo looked toward Armak’s location above and glowered in anger. By then, he was already aware of the latter being removed from the King’s pact and was determined to mete out a similar punishment he declared unto Breira— death.

As a matter of fact, Armak and Breira were not the only ones. Mo was determined to kill every member of the rebellion.

While Kyran saw all this from above, Armak looked at him and asked, “Master, their numbers are simply too great for us. Even with our combined efforts, it is impossible for us to deal with them with Mo and that giant automaton at the helm. I suggest we retreat, regroup, and find the right place to lure them and defeat them one at a time.”

Armak’s suggestion was sound. Given their enemy’s number advantage, they could only deal slowly.

Kyran did not reply, however. Not because he did not agree with Armak’s suggestion but because he was observing the automaton blocking the massive fissure.

The crack from which the giant automaton emerged had started to collapse. Because of this, the top half of the giant automaton’s body had been forcefully cut, its lower half left behind inside the crack.

Kyran sighed inwardly. He admitted feeling excited about adding a giant automaton to his collection. But it seemed he would only receive half of it.

While there was still another gigantic automaton, which was still blabbering on about vanquishing traitors, Kyran admitted liking the design of the white-robed man’s giant automaton better. After all, the latter had wings, meaning it could fly without redirecting its magic energy to its soles.

As for the rampaging gigantic automaton, in terms of size, it was by far bigger than the white-robed man’s giant one. Unfortunately, it did not have any wings. So, if it wanted to fly, it would likely consume quite a lot of magic energy, given its enormous size.

Although the consumption of magic energy was the least of Kyran’s worries, especially when his own energy core creation could naturally replenish their magic energies, what was more pressing was how he could amass the materials he would need to replace its energy core.

At least the giant automaton’s wings were part of its upper body, and its flight ability did not require magic energy. Then again, speaking of materials, repairing the giant automaton’s lower half might take a while, given the amount of metal and other materials needed for its circuitry and wirings, but at least its main system was still there.

…

Kyran paused, recalling how he destroyed the main system using his swords a few seconds ago. ‘Right,’ he thought while heaving a sigh, ‘Repairing it will definitely take a while.’

For the record, absorbing the automatons into the fissure did not mean they would be ‘reborn’ from the Void. At most, their body would adapt to the Void’s nature with their sentients intact but swearing allegiance to Kyran.

As for the white-robed man’s essence, Kyran had yet to fully absorb it, but at the moment, he already knew his name was Deus. Apart from that, referring to it as an ‘essence’ might be wrong. Rather than an essence, Kyran would rather call Deus a clone.

This was actually good news to Kyran because this meant his identity was still safe. That was because, as a clone, what it saw would not automatically be passed onto his original body once he was destroyed. Instead, he needed to send a message himself. 

As far as Kyran was concerned, Deus had not sent any message before getting pulled into the fissure.

“Lord Master! They are already making their way up here!”

The female spirit, who had been quietly holding onto Kyran’s head— or, to be more accurate, armor’s helmet— also urged, not liking how the killing intent emitted by Mo, who was looking at them from below, was quite stifling.

Kyran still did not respond because his brain was still processing everything that was happening below and what might happen once they made their move.

He might appear calm, even indifferent to their situation. But the truth was that he was pushing his brain to the limits while taking in all the details he could and could not see at that moment.

Armak more or less guessed this was the reason for Kyran’s silence. But the female spirit did not know this.

Kyran continued to analyze the things he could see below.

First, while initially, the gigantic automaton and its fellow automatons saw all of them as traitors, Mo, and his group did not seem to be included. They even appeared to be exempted from their list as they ignored their movements, allowing them to deal with the other traitors below.

Second, none of the enemy automatons seemed to be affected by the castle’s main Array Formation. Kyran could not put it into words, but he felt they were unaffected by the restrictions coming from formations. He even felt that they were connected to it at some point. Kyran did not have proof of this, however, so he could not say for sure.

Third, and probably what Kyran was most concerned about, was that the gigantic automaton did not have any energy core. The energy cores of its fellow automatons were practically visible, but not it.

How was it moving then?

Kyran had an idea.

Which then led to the last thing he observed below.

It was not obvious, but after Deus deciphered one of the Array Formation’s formulas that restricted the use of any ability, magic, magic item, and spells that connected the caster to the outside or separate space, Kyran could now sense a hollowed space beneath the ground.

“You said you saw someone underground?” Kyran finally spoke after what seemed to be a longer-than-advised pause.

“Yes,” Armak replied at once, knowing that he was the one Kyran directed that question to.

Armak had already told Kyran about their experience after their connection was re-established. From his information, Kyran even guessed that the person they saw was an outsider and probably someone he knew— Deception.

“I did not see anyone after coming down here,” he told Armak with a slight shake of his head.

Having told of this, Armak was slightly confounded. He also looked down and scanned the scene below.

After confirming Kyran’s statement, Armak slowly agreed, “Yes… I don’t either.”

“And Aran is not here…” Kyran added with narrowed eyes. “Or at least… he is not visible to us.”

Armak’s expression turned grave as he looked at Kyran, “You mean there may still be a secret room here?”

Kyran did not respond. Instead, he tried gauging the hollowed space below.

Obviously, that space had been used by someone. However, whether that someone was still there or not was difficult to determine, and unfortunately, Kyran and they did not have the time to investigate.

“I don’t think it’s a secret room per se, but there is definitely another space below the castle. But it is not part of it—.”

“COME ON! DO YOU PEOPLE NOT EVEN KNOW WHAT HAVING A SENSE OF URGENCY MEANS?” The female spirit bellowed in anger but failed miserably due to her cutesy voice. “Those guys are almost before us!”

Just as the female spirit had said, Mo had turned his Divine Armament into a massive dual-blade battle axe, which he then connected to one of the intact floors on the ceilings. Using it as a path, he and a few Legendary-level Knights ran to where Kyran and the others were.

On the other side, Breira and the automatons with him managed to shake off the Legendary-level Knights after them. The automatons then channeled some of their energy to the soles of their feet to propel them upward, with one of them taking Breira with him.

The enemy automatons were doing the same to get to where Kyran and the others were. However, the gigantic automaton remained on the ground, looking toward Kyran. Apart from its constant blabbering of vanquishing traitors, it remained rooted on its spot.

Kyran had a bad feeling after seeing the unmoving gigantic automaton. His concern was soon confirmed as his second observation was proven.

The castle’s main Array Formation, which had become docile after the disturbance from the gigantic automaton’s energy beam, started to move once more. After which, the runes on the formation moved as if they were about to come to life.

“No! That automaton can control the castle’s array formation—!”

Just as Kyran shouted this, a soft, almost inaudible sound, yet one that had the ability to wash out the rest of the noise around, fleeted past his ears.

Kyran’s eyes widened at once, recognizing that sound— no, a voice. Though it only spoke one word, Kyran felt the deep despair behind its pleading call— Her pleading call.

“Kyran…!”