Legacy of the Dark Sage

One of the two Exalted auras in the distance had once again disappeared after Freya exploded.

Kyran felt a concourse of High Master mages and a couple of Grand Master approaching his location at an incredible speed in several directions. Apart from this, he noticed a few hundreds of them were not 'humans.'

Ignoring everything else, Kyran focused on locating where Freya would reappear. As far as he was concerned, she still had one more 'life.' Once he killed her again, the next one would be her end.

'If she had a much higher magic level, this battle might be more interesting. Too bad I can't torture her to death,' Kyran sighed inwardly. He regretted letting this woman off easy. After all, she was the one in charge of this camp and was the reason why Zephyr ended up in such a critical condition.

Freya's body slowly formed, and as soon as she could move her hand, she took out her communication device and transmitted a message to a number of people. After that, she summoned a small black steele.

This steele was another relic that could activate their emergency escape route.

The decision to use this steele was a huge blow to Freya's pride. She admitted to underestimating the masked man. Not to mention, she had to reign in her desire for revenge to prioritize the safety of her members.

In the first place, Freya did not anticipate the enemies that brazenly entered their camp was actually only one person. Though she had not seen him do all of that alone, after witnessing how fast he could move, she was positive of it.

Thinking back to when she had seen how the green lights that represented the Templar Code members disappear one after another at an alarming speed, Freya should have sensed something was amiss. No, she did feel something strange because there was no indication of the enemy's presence on the map.

But why did she believe a group of people did it? Why did she not think of the man who killed Owen, Dess, and Quinne? Their attacker had not left anything behind, did he not? Apart from this, her people died way too fast.

If Freya had only guessed that the attacker was the same person, she would not order her members to form a group of fifty to move out. She would instead order them to retreat at once.

No, that was also wrong. Just like how Freya decided to engage the masked man in combat, she was too confident with the Templar Code's technology as well as her magic and battle experience. She was so sure earlier that she could take him down and exact her revenge.

In the end, not even a minute had passed, and she had already died twice. If the Commander did not tell her to bring the three Exalted relics as insurance, then she would have joined Owen and the rest and become one of the fatal casualties.

Freya's way of thinking had been affected now that she had personally witnessed the masked man's strength. He did not even seem to put any effort when he killed her.

Now, Freya understood that Owen's death was not negligence on his part. He stood no chance in the first place.

However, knowing all this did not lessen Freya's thirst for vengeance. She would have it, but not today. Nevertheless, if she failed to live through today, she would not be able to do that.

For this reason, she must prioritize their survival.

The moment Kyran sensed Freya's presence, he also noticed her actions. He had already anticipated her decision to escape instead of confronting him because there was only one magic item left that could save her.

Kyran stretched out his right hand toward where Freya had appeared and pointed. His silver eyes turned dark purple.

One of the downsides of using Draconic magic was his reach.

Because Draconic magic utilized his body, it was powerful, but he had to get close to his opponent to use it. He could gather pure Draconic magic energy into his hands and blast them out or throw them. But this kind of attack was too predictable, and gathering the energy would take a few seconds.

His opponent would definitely not stand idle while he prepared for an attack.

Since Kyran planned to deal with her 'in an instant,' he would not give her time to fight back.

He might have decided to use his Draconic magic, but that did not mean he would not use his Void magic.

Besides, his Void magic had an advantage in terms of long-range attacks.

As soon as Kyran pointed at Freya, a dark purple needle appeared at the tip of his finger.

This needle was an improved version of the Void Needle. Before, he needed to utilize the Regis's Strengthening Technique to add a thin coating because Void magic had no form. Now, it was easier to make with the Void's creation nature.

With a 5% boost of the Regis Blessing, Kyran flick could travel a few kilometers per second. Thus, the moment he flicked the needle, it shot toward Freya at a speed of light, hitting her forehead.

Freya felt nothing when the needle entered her forehead. She had barely finished sending her message and taking out the black steele when her whole head disintegrated suddenly.

It was another improvement in the Void needle. It would no longer explode but destroy anything it penetrated from the inside.

The last of the Exalted auras disappeared.

"RAWRGH!"

It was at this moment that a deafening roar sounded from behind.

Kyran already sensed them coming but ignored them to deal with Freya. He had guessed she told them to retreat, but it seemed they were a bunch of stubborn fools who wanted to save her at all cost.

Witnessing such an act would have made others applaud their loyalty.

To Kyran, however, their act was nothing more than pointless death. If he encountered them in a different situation, he would simply ignore them. But since these people were all equally guilty of hurting Zephyr, he did not mind helping them.

In the first wave of the attack, a countless concourse of four-legged beasts appeared, medium to large.

All of them were Max's beast horde.

Freya had told Max to stay close to the temple's entrance and guard it. But when he heard the first explosion, he sensed something amiss and summoned his beasts at once. He also called all of the Templar Code members under his command. Then they all made their way toward the location where the explosion had occurred.

When they got near, they felt the aftershock of the explosion and were shaken to their core. Soon after, they received an order from Freya not to engage the enemy.

Instead of retreating, however, her order had fuelled the desire of every Templar Code member to confront the threat that befell their camp.

With this desire, Max led his team into battle. Ignoring Freya's second order to retreat, he commanded his beast horde to charge into battle.

They all roared and pounced at the masked man, with claws glinting with a tint of green. All of the beasts' claws were coated in poison. One small cut from these claws would be fatal to most.

As soon as they closed in on Kyran, Kyran simply lifted his head to look at the few before him.

Earlier, he had been circulating the Draconic magic in his body; this time, he switched to the Void magic.

What happened next was something every member of the Templar Code nearby had not anticipated, especially Max.

All of the beasts stopped in midair, then a second later, they all howled in fear and scampered back.

"Fight!" Max roared. His reddish-brown eyes glinted in anger.

When he shouted, the retreating beasts wailed, and a glowing red six-sided star appeared on their foreheads. In an instant, the beasts' eyes glowed red as they roared and charged at the masked man once again.

This development made Kyran's eyes glint in amusement.

"Interesting," he thought as he looked at the burly man who had just roared at the beasts.

Kyran's eyes glowed silver as he switched back to using Draconic magic. Silver-white energy surged out from him. He bent forward slightly, bracing himself before shooting forward to meet the incoming beasts; deep cracks were left on the ground from where he had been.

Silver-white energy formed on his arms as he charged at the incoming beast horde.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

RAWRGH!

A series of dull explosions filled the air as Kyran punched every beast he met.

Blood, flesh, and brain matter flew everywhere as the beasts' heads exploded.

A sharp pain tugged at Max's heart each time a beast would fall. His pain was not because of his attachments to the beasts but from the backlash of having them die.

"Strong!" Max's muttered under his breath, his eyes constricted in disbelief.

The rest of the Templar Code members who saw how the masked man one-sidedly slaughtered Max's beast horde left them reeling.

The gallantry they had earlier was crushed in an instant. None of them dared to get close anymore. Even Max had been rooted in the spot.

At this moment, a booming voice echoed that filled the whole camp.

"Activating emergency escape array!"

The one who had said this was none other than Freya, who managed to gain some distance after Max's beast horde attacked Kyran.

A huge holden array appeared on the ground, and the whole camp shook from the surge of magic energy in the surroundings.