Legacy of the Dark Sage

Flos's eyes widened at the spectacle below.

The frozen plant he summoned was a mutation between a Belladonna and a Mandragora, which was called a Bellora and could only be found in Somuli. Its poison was mostly attributed to the former while retaining most of the latter's outer appearance.

Being a mutation of two plants with different genera, its size had experienced a huge change. The size of a regular Belladonna and a Mandragora was considered average, but because of the mutation's effect and the environment they lived in, they could grow into massive sizes. The potency of their poison would then depend on the amount of magic energy they absorbed.

Since Somuli's natural magic energy production was quite thin, the potency of Bellora's poison was not lethal. But with Flos providing the magic energy into the Bellora, its size not only grew massively, but its lethality also increased greatly.

With the size of its pollens growing to at least a .2 mm radius, people who inhaled a few could easily be rendered unconscious. But with the increase in its size, it also became possible for people to avoid it. Some would not even be able to inhale it.

Considering this matter, Flos intentionally crushed the Bellora's pollens, turning them into powder to ensure that the people below could not avoid them. As a matter of fact, as long as the powder came into contact with their skin, the Bellora's poison would immediately take effect.

It was unfortunate, however, that Flos underestimated what Cyneah could do. He did not expect her to use Soul magic to counter the powder, burning them quite easily and protecting the rest.

Flos's reaction was quite reasonable because there were very few records tackling the nature of Soul magic. Though it was still unlike studies pertaining to Void magic, where there was practically no official record whatsoever, 90% of the official records about Soul magic were attributed to what others had witnessed the Macabre Glacier could do. After all, the mirror had something to do with souls, making everyone else believe its nature was related to Soul magic.

In any case, with Cyneah's intervention, Flos's plan to poison them had been countered quite easily.

With this sudden turn of events, if Flos had a short fuse, he would likely start making one mistake after another because of his desire to win at all costs. However, Flos was not like that. As a matter of fact, his patience was one of his greatest asset. Although he admitted to acting rashly at times due to his confidence, he would only do so when he was sure of his victory.

This had been Flos's thoughts when his eyes fell upon Cyneah. As if to mock his inner monologue, he recalled what happened in the Human plane that ultimately led to their failure in taking the Macabre Glacier and Cyneah.

'That will be the only time I will accept failure,' Flos thought as a smile appeared on his face.

Without saying anything, he waved his hand and summoned more of his human-like plant creations. But unlike the first few he summoned, these summons looked more solid and even held weapons made of wood.

Seeing these, Malek and the others prepared to engage in another battle of attrition.

None of them were afraid, especially after receiving Cyneah's blessings.

Malek even retracted the magic barrier he summoned to protect everyone because he realized it was no longer necessary because Cyneah's active spell also possessed a protective barrier.

What Malek thought was actually on point.

Cyneah was worried that Flos would find a way to exploit a chink in everyone's armor to poison them. Thus, she added another layer of magic array to her active spell to provide them with additional protection.

To be honest, Cyneah's action was quite redundant. After all, Kyran enhanced all of their armor. Not to mention, he also placed a sort of protection on each and every one. Then again, another layer of protection was never a bad thing.

'Come to this coordinates. I need all of you here immediately,' Flos sent out a telepathic message to all members of their faction that were currently in Armakea.

As soon as his faction mates heard the message, they stopped what they were doing and immediately went to the coordinates he shared.

At the lowest level of the underground section of the Armakea castle, there was a vast dark hall. A spotlight could be seen somewhere at the center of the hall, and there, a figure in a long red dress with a matching red veil stood.

This was none other than Deception.

Deception had her eyes fixed in front, where two dimmed slanted lights could be seen.

Like the rest, she also received Flos's message. But unlike the rest, she was not in a hurry to go to the coordinates because she more or less already knew where it was. In any case, Flos was not expecting her to come anyway since she had another important task to fulfill.

The Macabre Glacier was important to them, but so were the Armakea's Knights and Automatons. Using the former to collect souls, they could then transfer those to the latter, which would then no longer require them to find an Array Saint to decipher its programming and activate them.

Frankly, Deception was already disillusioned about the Armakea Knights. They were interested in them before because of their unparalleled abilities, as described by the Nobles in the Kingdom of Cretea. But thus far, Deception had not seen any of those so-called unparalleled abilities of the Knights.

Looking at the two slanted lights before her, Deception smiled seductively and said, "I think it is time for us to make a move ourselves. Don't you think so?"

As she said this, a teleportation array appeared several kilometers from where she stood.

The array was not big, but it was enough for twenty or so adults to stand side by side.

Twelve figures in dark armor slowly materialized from within the array.

Deception's eyes narrowed as she looked at the figures. From Aran's story, there was only one intruder. Yet, there were twelve appearing before her.

It was not strange for Deception to not know what was happening outside. Because she had been staying in a space that Obstruction created near the castle's underground section for a while, she was unaware of the whole situation above ground. Besides that, she had been occupied with studying the underground section, as well as looking for an opportunity to control Aran.

"From one lone intruder to twelve..." Deception said with a sigh, "I truly cannot trust your words alone."

The two slanted lights flashed after she had spoken those words.

"There is no point in making excuses," Deception continued with a wave of her hand. "Since it is time for us to handle things here."

A seductive smile appeared on her face as she looked at the twelve figures who had just caught sight of her.

Two figures stood before the remaining ten. These two were Armak, and the automaton with serial number 0901, and the ten behind them were the first batch of automatons to teleport with them.

The teleportation array they arrived in was located in another room three levels above them. Because they found it inefficient for all of them to check every level together after entering the room with a teleportation array that led directly to the lowest level of the underground section, Armak and Breira decided to split up. 

Armak would bring along half of the automatons, including the one with serial number 0901, while Breira and the other half would continue checking the remaining levels.

As Armak and his group arrived, they were first greeted by a long, dark hall. Although there was a lone spotlight up front, because of the distance, Armak could barely make out of anything else apart from it.

However, the automatons with him were different. With their eyes not being affected by the darkness or distance, they already identified everything hidden in the surroundings.

Immediately after appearing, they shifted into battle mode as the serial number 0901 raised its great sword and said, "Hostile energy ahead. Prepare to engage."

Armak was stunned at the automaton's declaration beside him.

For the record, his senses had already received a boost after becoming Kyran's Sigil. Yet, he failed to see or sense the hostile target the automaton beside him had seen. This was not really surprising because only when his senses were given an additional boost from Sigil's blessing could he actually compete with the automatons' senses.

"Traitors to your master."

Suddenly, a somewhat metallic-sounding yet also faintly familiar voice spoke and reverberated throughout the darkened room.

"Receive your punishment."

Clack! Clack! Clack!

After the voice had spoken, the hidden overhead lights sprang to life and filled the hall with an almost blinding light.

Armak was forced to squint his eyes from the lights, but before he could even recover, he sensed an incoming danger and immediately summoned his Divine Armament.