The whole ground rumbled, and all the trees started to move.
Kyran turned just in time to see the thick roots of these trees uprooted themselves and suddenly lashed out toward him. At the same time, the gust of wind circling him changed, and blade-like wind attacked him in all directions.
“Ergh…!”
Kyran lifted both his arms to protect his head as wind and tree roots bombarded him on all sides.
The ground rumbled once again and broke as spikes made of earth shot out toward him.
Kyran immediately jumped to avoid the spikes.
CREAK!
Suddenly the branches of nearby trees moved and also lashed out at Kyran.
“What in the-!” Kyran exclaimed. His eyes widened as he watched as everything in the forest seemed to come alive.
Kyran urged the Regis Body Tempering Technique to its fullest and moved to avoid the wind and tree attacks, and even then, the ground did not stop shooting off spikes. He could barely touch the ground before he had to jump again to avoid these spikes. Still, there were attacks that he could not avoid, and he could only endure as they hit him.
It was a good thing that the modifications Stella included to his coat greatly improved its physical defense and magic resistance. She also had an enchantment placed on it where the coat would automatically repair itself if it were damaged. However, it did not prevent Kyran from getting cuts, especially when the attacks hit his bare skin.
Kyran turned in midair to avoid two blade-like winds coming on his sides, and then he used his hands to push himself off the ground as another set of spikes shot off toward him.
One of the spikes hit him on the cheek. Because he was still wearing the mask, there was a grating sound as it grazed the mask.
“Ergh!” Kyran gritted his teeth as he narrowly escaped the spike from hitting his eyes.
He was tempted to use his Void Scales. However, after the short episode where his magic seemed to have taken control of his body, he had a sudden fear in his heart.
What if he used his magic and was drawn to the Chaos Palace again?
He did plan on going to Chaos Palace, but not today, and not like this.
Besides, the Chaos Palace was floating above a deep ravine. Although he might be able to warp to the entrance of the palace, if he concentrated, that would only apply if he had control over his magic. Because when his magic seemed to have taken control of his body, he had a vague feeling that it wanted to ‘fly’ over to the Chaos Palace.
And Kyran had no idea how to ‘fly’. He was not like Stella, who could levitate.
He was also thinking about why there had been no mage or faction that conquered the Chaos Palace up to this date. Was it because they could not endure the attacks of the owner of these ‘voices’? Or was it because they could not cross this ravine? Or maybe it was because something in this ravine prevents them from crossing over?
Whatever the reasons were, Kyran had no plans on finding it out by himself. Apart from he had other priorities at the moment, he was also not ready.
[Annoying body of the Dragon Lord!]
[Slow him down!]
[Don’t stop attacking!]
[He will exhaust himself soon, then we can kill him!]
Kyran heard the voices spoke again.
Once again, he heard them refer to him as the Dragon Lord. Was it because of the Regis Body Tempering Technique?
Kyran knew that their ancestor passed down this technique. And the only way to practice this was if they had dragon blood running in their veins. No matter if it was only a drop. But all of that was unimportant. The important thing that he realized by how these voices called him was that they knew the Dragon Lord.
Who were these voices? More importantly, how long had these voices been here? Had they been living here since the Chaos Reign era? After all, there had always been one Dragon Lord, just like how there had only been one Void Master.
Well, until now, that is.
All these thoughts ran through Kyran’s head as he did his best to avoid all the attacks.
True enough, he was starting to get exhausted, and yet the attacks had not lessened. Instead, it had gotten fiercer and frequent. He could barely keep up.
Was his only option was to use the Void Scales? But what if his magic tried to control his body again?
Kyran gritted his teeth as he once again jumped to avoid three blade-like winds coming at him, as well as the lashing of four tree roots and branches.
‘Not necessarily!’ Kyran’s eyes glinted as he tapped his pouch.
Ever since he found out he had magic, he integrated it into his fighting style while using his bare hands. But that did not mean that he could only use his hands to fight.
When Kyran thought he was just a normal person, all his uncles and even his father and grandfather taught him to wield all kinds of weapons.
And his uncle Jared was nice enough to have two pairs of his second favorite weapon.
Swords.
Two black obsidian-made swords appeared on Kyran’s hands, just in time when three tree branches lashed at him. He swung his sword as he turned his body to cut the branches in pieces.
The swords on Kyran’s hands glowed in faint dark purple. He was like a small dark purple hurricane as he slashed on the tree branches and roots. He also repelled the blade-like winds as if they approached him. The spikes were not spared as well as he jumped and slashed at them.
[This..!]
[Terrifying!]
[The Dragon Lord is really terrifying!]
Suddenly.
[MOVE BACK!]
A deep unearthly voice boomed as the ground around Kyran bloomed and turned into solid curved walls to capture him.
Kyran’s eyes narrowed. He immediately stood his ground and combined the hilts of his swords, turning them into a double-bladed sword. Then he urged the Regis Tempering Technique on the blades as he lifted it above his head. He twirled the sword in his hand and dark purple energy formed around him, starting from the top of his head. It instantly destroyed the earth around him before it could fully trap him inside.
Then.
Thick thorny vines shot out from the ground and wrapped themselves around Kyran’s feet.
“Argh!” Kyran winced as the thorns dug into his flesh.
He immediately disengaged the hilt of his sword and sliced off the vines.
However…
A burning, searing pain spread inside Kyran’s body from where the thorns had dug in.
‘This…!’ His eyes widened as he realized his legs had gone numb. ‘Poison!’
[Now!]
That split second where Kyran’s movement had stopped was enough for the voices to launch another attack.
The roots of the trees wrapped themselves around Kyran’s hands and body as the blade-like wind rained down on him.
====================
Silas sat in silence as he stared at the empty study table in front of him.
After asking Marley that he needed to speak to the President of the Mercenary Hall, Silas did not expect to be called to wait in his office at once. He actually thought he had to wait for Marley to call him back and set up a date where he would meet the President.
This situation made Silas think that maybe Gage successfully delivered the orb, and the reason he could not contact him was… Actually, he had not thought of a possible reason yet.
Lumi floated around Silas as she looked around the room. She sniffed the air and had a thoughtful look on her face.
“Strange,” she muttered.
Silas, who was trying to ignore her, could not help but sigh. He could not react to her strange antics at the moment because he was not sure if he was being watched right now.
Although Silas did not think that the President was untrustworthy, especially when the Regis Patriarch asked to directly deliver such an important item to him, the Mercenary Hall had no idea about his relations with Spirits.
Silas was afraid to reveal Lady Lumi’s existence because then he had to explain his origin. Because as far as the information he submitted to the Mercenary Hall was concerned, he was just a mage with above-average Ice Magic.
“The smell here is different. And those people downstairs… some smelled like the wench, while others smelled stinky, like you.” Lumi was saying.
‘What are you saying about smelling stinky like me?’ Silas could only complain in his thoughts as black lines appeared on his head.
After waiting for a couple of minutes, the door opened, and the President of the Mercenary Hall entered.
Silas immediately stood up and greeted, “President Callan.”
When Callan saw him, his eyes glinted excitedly. He immediately approached him and reached for his hand, “We’ve been waiting for you, young Silas.”
“Waiting?” Silas’s eyes brightened. So Gage really succeeded! That brute had him worried for nothing!
“Please come with me. The Head of Conclave wanted to speak with you.”
Silas’s eyes widened at once upon hearing this and exclaimed, “T-The Head of Conclave?”
He knew the Regis to have tight relations with the Conclave, but he was not expecting actually to meet the head as well.
Callan smiled and nodded, “Yes. We have so much to discuss.”
His eyes then slowly shifted and looked in Lumi’s direction.
Silas noticed this and felt his blood run cold.