When Gael arrived at Aeren Town a few hours ago, he first used his magic to find the man reported by Jax. He did not want to use the army because the army’s movement had been too conspicuous lately, and there was a chance some forces would notice it.
It did not take long for Gael to find that the man already left the inn he was staying at. The man left secretly made him suspect there really was a reason for what he did at the Regis Estate that morning.
Gael already predicted that he would not take the train to the next town because he knew he was being watched. Thus, Gael did not waste any time and went to Yuhl.
Since his goal was to arrive ahead of him, Gael mixed in with the train passengers going to Yuhl. He arrived at Yuhl way ahead of the man.
When the man arrived, Gael’s magic easily found him.
At first, Gael planned to visit the man at the inn he would check-in and make him confess his real intentions in going to the Regis Estate.
To Gael’s dismay, the man did not stay and even left in a hurry.
That was the reason why Gael decided to follow him and look for the right moment to strike. As much as possible, he did not want to reveal himself. He was waiting for a forest beast to appear and attack the man.
Gael planned to time his attack with the beast’s movement and exhausted the man. Once he was exhausted, it would be easier for Gael to interrogate him.
Who would have thought that not even a single beast appeared? Even when he thought of using his magic to find a beast and lure it toward the man, Gael failed to find one.
Not wasting any more time, Gael finally made a move. It did not take long for him to understand the man’s magic attainment was only at Master level.
However, the man was still capable.
It was a known fact that Gael’s ability to conceal his presence was one of the best in the whole empire. This was attributed more to his magic.
But the man was able to detect him.
Still, it was the only feat he possessed that interested Gael.
With Gael’s magic attainment, the man was like a child being played by him. It would only be a matter of time until he could make the man submit.
Even if he resisted, Gael had other means to make him tell his secret.
But then an intruder arrived and hindered his plans. The arrival of this person further proved Gael’s suspicion that the man he was after had a secret. If the intruder only tried to stop Gael, thinking that he was a bad person attacking an innocent bypasser, he wouldn’t think much about the intruder’s possible connection with the man.
However, the intruder saved the man and hid him at once. To where? Gael was not sure but knew he would eventually find out.
And now…
Sensing that a presence had appeared behind him once again, Gael’s eyes flashed red and swung his scythe as he turned around.
The outstretched hand that was about to grab him was immediately sliced in half.
“AAA-!”
The intruder shouted in pain.
Gael sneered.
But.
“-AAaare you expecting me to scream in pain?” The intruder stopped screaming and asked mockingly.
The sliced arm darkened and turned into a fog-like shadow before bursting.
Gael’s eyes flashed.
Countless black arrows shot out in different directions toward him.
Before the arrows hit Gael, his robes appeared to come alive and erupted. Then he turned into a cloud of black smoke. The arrows went through him and hit the trees and grounds instead.
The intruder heaved a loud sigh.
“Ah, shit. You have one hell of an enchanted robe there. If I’m correct, the materials used to make that robe compliments your magic; thus, the enchantment’s effect is greater. Turning into a cloud of smoke at will… Phew, doesn’t that make any physical attack useless against you?”
The cloud of smoke slowly converged, and Gael returned to his solid form.
“Initially, your magic seems similar to mine. It seems I am mistaken,” Gael said and turned to his right.
About seven meters to Gael’s right, a fog-like shadow slowly drifted in the air.
“Yeah, well, plenty of idiotic morons like you around. You’re not alone.”
The fog-like shadow converged and soon revealed a cloaked man.
While the two seemed to have the same ‘appearance,’ the man’s dark cloak looked shabby than Gael’s silken black robe.
“What is a Magus with an unknown origin doing in Ylfaen empire?” Gael asked pointedly.
The cloaked man burst out laughing.
“Ahahahahaha! Are you a f*cking idiot? Why the hell would I tell you? Seriously, you’re idiotic than I thought!”
Gael ignored the sarcasm.
He was a Grand Marshal. His tolerance to any form of taunt had been fortified over the years. A provocation like this would not affect him. Besides, the cloaked man’s magic was strange. He needed to first understand it before making a move.
Even though both of them were Magus, Gael knew he was at a disadvantage.
First of all, he was not at his peak because he consumed a lot of his strength using his magic traveling ability. Second, the cloaked man seemed to know his magic. This was already proven by how he tried to camouflage his magic with his own. Thirdly was the cloaked man’s magic. Gael was unable to sense its attribute, nor could he predict what it was. And last, the cloaked man had hidden Gael’s target.
If the cloaked man decided to escape, Gael was not 100% confident he could stop him.
“What? Are we going to have a staring match?” The cloaked man asked.
Gael sneered. Apparently, this guy was hotheaded. If he were smart, he’d think of a way to escape and not try to pick a fight.
But just as he was thinking this. The cloaked man said, “Then, I won’t keep you. Cheers!”
Fog-like shadows burst out from under the man’s cloak and started to envelop him.
Gael’s eyes narrowed, and he immediately made a move.
“Humph!” He grunted and roused his magic. Black shadows formed on the blade of his scythe as he struck down toward the cloaked man’s direction.
With a chuckle, the cloaked man watched the approaching shadows. He spread out his arms, and the fog-like shadow circled him and started to solidify.
“You’re not the only one who’s immune to an attack,” the intruder sneered.
‘Magic barrier?’ Gael thought as his attack hit the shadow-like wall the cloaked man created. ‘Is he an Abjurer?’
Though he thought this, Gael did not stop his attack. After failing the first strike, all the shadows near the cloaked man stirred.
Slowly, at least 10 black-robed shadows emerged from it.
“Oh. So it’s your shadow minions’ time to take the stage? Too soon, don’t you think?” The cloaked man asked mockingly.
“Kill,” Gael commanded his shadow minions.
Weapons of every kind formed at the hands of the black-robed shadow minions and directly attacked the man.
“Humph,” the man sneered. The barrier he created turned into the fog once again and formed into ten black orbs. It circled him as he lifted his arms to his sides. The moment his fingers moved, the orbs around him moved, and each went to block a shadow minion.
Clang!
The orbs then turned into a weapon matching the one each shadow wielded and clashed with it.
‘This. Creation magic?’ Gael was shocked. He thought the cloaked man was an Abjurer. But this ability was definitely creation magic.
However, Gael just made a mental note of the man’s strange ability and did not dwell on it. Because as soon as the shadow minions and the orbs-turned-weapons clashed, Gael also moved and attacked.
Based on his observation. The cloaked man would need to control these orbs. He would not be able to defend and control his orbs at the same time properly.
Apart from that, the ‘shadow’ the cloaked man had with him seemed to be limited. And right now, he already used it to create those orbs.
The diamonds on Gael’s scythe lit up. Black and white shadows formed on the blade as he struck the cloaked man horizontally.
“Tsk.”
The cloaked man jumped back to avoid Gael’s attack.
But.
Slash!
The white shadow extended and hit the cloaked man’s abdomen.
“Ugh!” He screamed.
Whish!
Black fog sprouted out from the cloaked man’s sliced abdomen.
“What!” Gael’s eyes narrowed as he watched the ‘cloaked man’ turned into fog and burst.
Gael stopped abruptly and looked at the orb-turned-weapons that were still fighting his shadow minions.
It did not disappear.
“Ahahaha!” The cloaked man’s voice resounded.
Gritting his teeth, Gael’s eyes flash red, and he struck the tip of his scythe’s snath on the ground. Shadows spread out from its tip and filled a 50-meter radius area with him in the middle.
The shadow-occupied area turned into a quagmire, and everything within a 50-meter radius around Gael sank into it.
These included the trees, plants, and the earth apart from the spot where Gael stood.
His shadow minions were not exempted either. However, all of the shadows grabbed the orb-turned-weapons before they sank into the quagmire.
“F*ck. That’s one hell of a large area effect magic. Where do all those things that sink into it go?” The cloaked man’s voice resounded once again.
“Why don’t you check yourself?” Gael replied and tried to figure out where the voice was coming from.
“Sorry, not really interested. Just making idle chat. Don’t mind me.”
Then.
Bang!
Black steels emerged from the quagmire and hit Gael from behind and on the sides.
“Guh!” Gael did not see the incoming attack and was completely pierced by these steels. Blood spurted out of his mouth and body.
“See? Just making idle chat.”
“Nggaargh!” Gael screamed in pain as the steels that pierced him moved and lifted him off the ground.
Gael’s mind was racing. He remembered the orb-turned-weapons that sank into his quagmire. Did the cloaked man still manage to control those and changed their form? However, those number was not equal to the amount in making these black steels.
“H-How!”
A fog-like shadow appeared one meter away from Gael’s position and formed a small square platform few feet above the shadow quagmire.
Another fog-like shadow appeared above the platform. The cloaked man stepped out from within and stood on the platform.
“Bet you did not see that coming. Not immune to physical attack now, huh?” He snickered at Gael.
“Y-You! How are you able to create these? Did you make use of those orbs that already got absorbed into the quagmire?”
“Are you seriously asking me that? You know I’m not gonna answer, right?” The cloaked man said and sat down on the platform.
“I can indulge your curiosity, though, if you answer some of my own. What do you say?”
“You seemed to think you’ve already won,” Gael said, and his eyes flashed red under his hood.
The quagmire shifted. Behind the cloaked man, a huge mud-like shadow emerged from the quagmire. It opened what seemed to be its mouth and aimed to swallow the man.
At the same time, Gael turned into black smoke and immediately retreated.
Everything happened too fast that the cloaked man could not react and got swallowed directly by the mud-like shadow. Right after that, it dived back into the quagmire.
The black smoke-Gael appeared at the edge of the quagmire and soon returned to his solid form. He was hunched down while holding his abdomen. Where the black steels managed to pierce him, there was blood seeping.
“Argh…” He fell on one knee and immediately took out a high-grade healing pill and swallowed it.
Then…
BOOM!
Gael’s eyes grew wide as he watched a similar-looking mud-like shadow he summoned erupted from the quagmire. This one was different, though. Because it had more substance and it was bigger.
“Ugh… Seriously, don’t do that. If*cking hate cramp spaces.”
The cloaked man’s voice spoke from inside the mud-like summon.
“Tsk.” Gael immediately retreated.
The mud-like summon opened its mouth. A small black square platform formed one after another from its mouth going to the edge of the quagmire. The cloaked man stepped out of the mouth and walked on these platforms.
“How come you seemed weak?”
Gael’s eyes narrowed. Though he could not use his full strength right now, he was an elite-ranked Magus. Even with a handicap or a weakened state, he would be able to hold his ground against the same ranked Magus.
However, this guy was very strange.
Gael could not gauge the man’s level.
He at least knew that the man was a Magus because he could use his magic without an array. But his magic was too strange.
Even now, Gael was unable to understand the cloaked man’s magic. While seemingly using ‘shadows,’ Gael, as a mage with innate shadow magic, would have felt a sense of familiarity when the man used his magic. However, he did not.
Then, he first thought the man was an Abjurer, but he was clearly using creation magic. Gael, himself, was a Transmuter. That was why his shadow magic was able to take solid form. But this man was not using the shadows.
‘Is he a dual specialization mage?’ The thought suddenly crossed Gael’s mind.
If a mage learned dual specialization, then he could combine it to reform its effect. For example, with the cloaked man’s Abjurer ability, he would strengthen the creations he made using his Transmuter ability.
No. Gael rejected the idea immediately.
The cloaked man was not strengthening his creations. They were already solid in the first place. If not, when his ‘shadows’ tuned into orbs then changed into weapons, they wouldn’t have the sharpness and sturdiness of a real weapon.
What magic could be broken into small pieces and then reconstructed into a new item that was not inferior to the original?
That kind of magic would be ground-breaking. Because wouldn’t that mean he could create any kind of item as long as he summoned his magic? But was there a mage in Ylfaen Empire like him? Not to mention a Magus level?
None. If there was, Gael would’ve known because the army would be keeping a close eye on him.
“What? Are we back in doing a staring match?” The cloaked man chided.
Gael stood straight and waited for him to reach the edge of the quagmire. He took a deep breath and felt the pill he took properly circulating inside him. He needed this cloaked man to return his target. But to do that, he needed to wound him or even kill him properly.
Although the toll he had to pay for using his magic’s traveling ability would not be lifted with the pill he just took, Gael’s strength returned to at least 70%.
“You had a chance to escape. Why insist on staying?” Gael asked.
“Oh, I’m actually not. Did you forget that you prevented me from leaving earlier? But then, I thought, we’re already here, might as well play for a while.”
“Your arrogance will be your downfall.”
WHOOOSH!
Gael’s strength suddenly surged as black and white shadows circled him.