Legacy of the Dark Sage

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With the beast horde trapped inside the silver-white barricade, Kyran had more options to maneuver the situation.

Currently, he was interested in winning over the burly man but had no plans on sparing the rest of the Templar Code, especially those who had hurt Zephyr. However, killing them would mean losing the chance on convincing the man to submit.

It was such a complicated matter.

Err... not really. It was only Kyran's stubbornness that made this whole situation complicated.

Kyran stood straight and looked at the burly man. Just when he was about to take a step, the man suddenly blurted something that made him stop.

"Draconic runes!" Max exclaimed in both wonder and fear when he saw the runes mixed in the silver-white barricade.

As someone who grew up in a clan that dealt with beasts, he knew almost every beast recorded in the whole world. Even the most divine ones, like the Dragons.

Though his clan had only one ancient scroll about them, there was one short passage that showed a Draconic Incantation. It was written in Draconic runes and unfortunately, his clan failed to decipher it.

Max had been mesmerized by the runes and had committed them in his memories at a young age. He even began to have a crazy dream of becoming the first in his clan to decipher the runes and find clues to why the Dragons disappeared.

Unfortunately, his dream was meant to be just that, a dream, because his family was killed and he was forced to leave the clan.

After leaving the clan, it was then he came to know about the Regis Clan, rumored to have been blessed by a dragon. When he learned about them, he suddenly felt how childish he had been.

Here he was dreaming of deciphering a short passage of Draconic runes that probably did not hold any clues about the Dragons' disappearance, while there was a powerful clan who had ties with a real dragon.

Max had almost given up his dream. But then he met the Commander of the Templar Code who told him his dreams were not childish. It did not matter that there were others who already had the answers, what mattered was he dared to find the answers himself. Besides, the Regis Clan having ties with a dragon was only a rumor. They might showcase a might mimicking a dragon's strength, but they too had a unique Beast Arts. There was a good chance their abilities were based on other beasts and not dragons.

Because of what the Commander had told him, Max did not give up and instead put it on hold. For now, he decided to devote himself to developing his Beast Arts. One day, he would once again venture out and find more clues.

Max was in this mindset when the Templar Code found the Shaiha Ruins as well as encountered a Quilin. Though he was not part of the members who were first assigned in excavating the ruins, he had been waiting for the day they could enter the temple.

Because there was a high chance that the temple had clues about dragons and the Quilin was guarding them.

So when Freya had called him to help subdue the Quilin, Max did not hesitate.

Since the Quilin was in a very precarious condition, he decided not to enslave it but perform a Beast Arts he had developed himself, called the Beast Shadow.

Through this art, he would be able to understand the Quilin and even become one with it.

This particular art took a lot of resources and even magic energy, thus, preparing it would take some time. It was very unfortunate that he was in the midst of the preparation that the masked man appeared.

But now that he was in front of the masked man, he was beginning to understand why he had come and started killing his comrades. And the reason he thought of made him quiver; both in excitement and fear.

Kyran smiled a smile that did not meet his eyes. An idea started to form in his mind, after seeing the man's reaction. He now knew how to deal with him.

"Hee~ you recognized them?" Kyran said, tilting his head to one side.

Max's eyes constricted at the masked man's words.

He was now 99% convinced that the reason he thought of was correct! As for the 1%, he could never be too sure without solid evidence.

But if he was correct, then this masked man had a valid reason for attacking them. In his eyes, they were real enemies that harmed a part of his kin!

Thinking back to their encounter with the Quilin, though they had suffered a lot, none of them had died. Meaning, it never had any intentions of killing them.

Why did they not notice this?

No.

They did notice. Unfortunately, their pride as the Templar Code's Elite Team blinded them, believing the Quilin stood no chance against them.

Everyone should have known that the Quilin they had been after was far more special than those in Archadia. Its colors were different, its size was enormous and most important of all, its horn was special.

However, they all chose to ignore this fact and relentlessly attacked it all because they wanted to harvest its horn.

Now it had suffered a fatal injury and even risked its life in order to protect the temple!

The masked man would definitely not let them off easy!

That was right. Max was convinced Kyran was an entity akin to an 'Overlord' that enact punishments on those people who harmed its people.

In this case, with the Quilin on the verge of death, 'it' appeared to exact revenge on its behalf.

It was the same with Owen, Dess, and Quinne.

As for the reason why the masked man had only appeared now. Certain conditions had probably been met which made it possible for 'it' to come out.

One of the conditions likely had to do with the temple. In both times, 'it' appeared near the temple.

Max's hypothesis was further fueled by the fact that the masked man had a small frame and yet was bursting with power. To him, the masked man only appeared in human form but its identity was likely to be that of a…

'Dragon!'

As soon as Max thought of this, he erupted with the aura of a Magus and in an instant employed one of his strongest techniques.

"Beast Mimicry!" He shouted.

His body grew in size and surprisingly his golden armor did not break and instead adapted to the change. Apparently, his armor had been enchanted, tailor-made to conform to his techniques.

"RAWRGH!" Max roared, power erupting from him.

A translucent black aura surrounded him, resembling a human-shaped turtle. Translucent black flippers covered his arms and his back had a black leathery shell. This beast was called the Luth by people from the north.

They were known to have one of the greatest defenses among all legendary-tier beasts, and most of all… their fleeing ability was top-notch!

Max blasted away from the masked man in a blink of an eye.

This sudden turn of events made Kyran gape in shock.

"Oi!" He could not help but exclaim.

The burly man appeared ready to fight to the death but suddenly turned tail and ran!

Kyran was too shocked, he did not know whether to laugh or cry.

Of course, Max was not really running away in fear. He only wanted to gain some distance and inform Freya and Reuben about the masked man's reason for attacking them. As for its identity, he feared that if he told them, and the masked man learned of it, it would come to eradicate the whole Templar Code.

Maybe the Dragons never disappeared but had only gone into hiding. If they were exposed, they would do everything to erase all information, especially witnesses!

Max also had to warn them to abort the whole mission. If not, and they returned to come after the Quilin again, then a great massacre would ensue!

Without wasting any more time, Max took out his communication device. Because of his way of speaking, he only sent coded messages.

His message was: Masked. Unfathomable. Retribution. ABORT!

When Reuben received the message, his brain went into overdrive.

Among the members of Freya's team, only she and Reuben could understand Max.

"The masked man's strength cannot be fathomed, and his reason for coming is retribution…" Reuben muttered, coming to a sudden stop.

Images of Owen, Dess, and Quinne's bodies flashed through his mind as well as all the details they had gathered on what might have transpired, resulting in their death. Then he recalled the report he had read while he was on his way here.

In all of those, there was one common factor.

During both incidents, the Quilin had been forced to retreat to the temple. Though the Quilin was not on the verge of death the first time, Owen and the others had continuously come after it, exhausting it.

"Does this mean the masked man is the Quilin's guardian?"

Reuben shook his head, rejecting the notion at once.

"No, not guardian… could it be its master? It has not shown itself, but something happened that forced it to come out. And now that it has seen what we have done to the Quilin, it is now exacting retribution!"

He had always wondered why the Quilin was alone in the ruins. Apparently, it was not really alone. Most likely, it was the only one awake.

Finally, another one had awakened and it had come to repay their kindness!

The latter Reuben thought as he recalled the masked man's words earlier. Now, he understood what it meant completely.

He took out his communication device and called Freya.

She picked it up almost at once while asking, "What are your thoughts?"

"The masked man is not human," Reuben replied at once. "Most likely, it is a high-level Quilin, akin to a saint-level... no, maybe even an Overlord existence that can change into a human form. The mask it is wearing is probably a magic item that masks its aura. Probably it is its way to hide its real identity, making us think it is related to the Quilin but not a Quilin, itself."

Freya was silent. She had almost the same thoughts. The only difference was that the masked man was a real human with a connection to the Quilin. As for why it was wearing a black panther mask, there was no specific reason.

If Kyran knew what both of them were thinking, he might have flipped. He would never have imagined that his simple admission of the Draconic runes within his barricade would result in such a misunderstanding.

Because of this new information, Freya knew the situation had become complicated. They did not have the means to fight the masked man.

Going back to the fleeing Max, as soon as he completed sending out his message, a voice spoke from behind.

"Who said you can run?"

Max's eyes glowed red as he abruptly stopped and made a sudden turn. When he turned, he spread out his arms, reinforcing the translucent black flippers before cleaving at the masked man.

Kyran lifted his right forearm and blocked the incoming attack.

TING!

Max's arm was thrown back the moment it collided with the masked man's forearm. Before he could fully react to what had happened, the masked man grabbed his arm and pulled him toward him.

This instantly caused Max's mind to reel.

He was far bigger now than the masked man and yet he effortlessly blocked his attack and even grabbed him as if he was weightless!

Kyran grabbed the man's head and slammed him down to the ground using his left arm.

"Gwah!" Max spat out a mouthful of blood the moment his head hit the ground.

The ground cracked from the impact. Then Kyran dragged the man with his head still on the ground, leaving behind a bloody trail.

"SHELL!" Max grunted as the translucent turtle shell on his back disengaged and circled to slam on the masked man's side.

Since Kyran's left was still holding the man's head, and the translucent shell appeared on his left, instead of blocking, he grabbed the man's head off the ground, bending his left arm. After which, his elbow collided with the turtle shell and surprisingly, a crack appeared on the shell.

CRACK!

"What?" Max exclaimed in surprise.

Actually, what had happened was not that surprising. If he was correct about the masked man's identity then the shell's defenses were like thin glass compared to 'its' defenses.

'The fastest way to use the Sigil, is when your target is at a vulnerable state,' Kyran thought.

Right now, the burly man was in a similar state after having Kyran countered his attack with ease.

He initially wanted to use the man's misunderstanding to coerce him into submission. But the man's decision to run had been unexpected that Kyran almost thought it would take him a lot more patience in dealing with him. Good thing, the man was still actively retaliating which made it easier for him to 'scare' the man a bit.

With glowing silver eyes, Kyran summoned two silver rings that appeared on the ground right below the man.

As soon as Max saw the silver rings, his scalp went numb.

"RAWRGH!" He roared and tried to break free from the masked man's grip.

But his struggle was futile.

The masked man's hand was smaller than his head but its gripping power was too insane!

Max once again forced out the aura of the Magus in his body. It was unfortunate that his power might now be comparable to a Magus, but since he had never experienced being one, his abilities and skills were still that of a Grand Master. He did not even know how to summon a domain.

The only reason why he insisted on taking the Red-Demon pill was so his magic energy would erupt and he could summon his remaining beasts.

Too bad, even though he managed to do that, his horde had been trapped almost immediately.

Knowing the end was near, Max growled under his breath, but then said, "Spare them."

Kyran raised his brows as he heard his supposed 'parting words.'

Suddenly a different scene seemed to overlap with the scene before him. In that scene, there was an old man sprawled on the floor while Kyran pinned him down. The man was on the verge of death and on the side was a group of women and children shivering in fear.

The man had turned to look at Kyran and uttered the same exact words.

"Spare them."

Kyran's eyes turned cold as he pushed the image to the back of his head. It annoyed him how these scenes appeared before him these days.

Once again, Kyran slammed the man's head to the ground. At the same time, Draconic writings appeared on his arms.

"Gwah!" Max spat out another mouthful of blood and his vision blurred.

When he had regained some of his vision, what he saw nearly stopped his heart because a  dark purple dragon came out of the silver rings and circled them.