Legacy of the Dark Sage

Kyran did not get to contemplate his thoughts because what was left of the foothold he was standing on shook violently. As a matter of fact, there were violent rumbling sounds coming from below what was remaining of the underground section.

From a distance, Kyran could see the gigantic automaton using its hands to grab inside the barely intact levels of the underground section. From its movement, it looked as if it was trying to check if Kyran was hiding there.

[Master!]

'Armak!' Kyran recognized the voice that called out to him, who coincidentally crossed his mind just then. 'Are you and Breira safe?'

[I'm sorry, Master. Breira and I decided to split up after arriving at the room with a teleportation array that led directly to the underground section's lowest level.]

Armak started to explain. Without waiting for Kyran to say or ask questions, he hastily shared what happened as soon as he and the automatons with him arrived at the underground section's lowest level.

[An outsider has taken control of all the remaining Automatons. I do not know if King Aran was the one who actually activated all of them, but I did not see him anywhere. The outsider does not look like the one he had been in contact with either. She might have killed King Aran already.]

After being freed from the pact, Armak could no longer sense Aran. Otherwise, he would be able to tell if the latter was still alive or not, even if they were far apart.

Kyran's head throbbed as an incoming headache threatened to surface. He did not know whether to consider Armak's update as good or bad.

Good, because he had been hoping Armakea was hiding more Automatons so he could acquire an army of them without having to worry about gathering materials to create them. Bad because the outsider had gotten hold of them before he could; thus, he could no longer avoid keeping them intact.

[I barely managed to avoid getting killed when the giant automaton went after us. If not for sir Great Sword Automaton protecting me in time, I would have long died.]

Armak paused as he realized his Master might misunderstand the meaning of his words and hastily added.

[Do not worry, Master. sir Great Sword Automaton and the rest are fine. They have suffered some external damages, but overall, they are still functional.]

Kyran could not help but smile helplessly at Armak's hasty explanation. While he did ask them not to destroy the automatons, that did not mean he would prioritize them over their一 Armak and Breira's一 lives.

Before Kyran could point this out, the rumbling intensified, and several glowing red and gold lights appeared from the darkened passage below.

"This...! Such potent magic energies! Lord Master, we need to leave!" The female spirit's cute little head popped out from Kyran's breast pocket as she looked at the dark passage. 

She gasped in fright when she saw all those fast-approaching red and gold lights.

Kyran was also looking at these lights and knew that they were not concentrated magic energies. Rather, they were energy cores coming from a bare Automaton.

'Armak,' Kyran called without even a hint of panic in his voice.

[Master?]

'When you went down, did you see any signs of an active Array Formation?'

[That... I did sense something, but because the outsider ordered the automatons to come after us, I am unsure.]

'Alright. Try to find Breira. I can't get hold of him, either. But I believe he is only trapped in a room with a still intact array formation. Else, my connection with him would have long been severed if something untoward happened to him.'

Armak let out a sigh of relief after hearing those words, and he replied at once.

[I may have an idea as to where he might be right now. I just do not know if that room is still intact, given the state of the underground section right now.]

'While most of the lower levels are destroyed, there are still a few intact levels above. Go and find him. After that, leave the underground and rendezvous with Filren.'

'Yes, Master.'

"Lord Master! What are you staring in space about? Let us leave now! Those lights coming from below possess scary magic energies, which is pretty much impossible here in Somuli!" The female spirit insisted while tugging at the collar of Kyran's coat to get his attention.

In her view, Kyran appeared to have been frozen stiff while looking at those lights and did not know that he was actually busy talking to Armak.

Kyran ignored the female spirit's rambling as he looked at the incoming automatons. From what little information Armak provided, Kyran could more or less guess the gist of what was happening. As for Aran's life or death, Kyran knew it was not easy for that guy to die. Apart from that, the outsider that Armak saw was likely Deception.

The reason Kyran thought this was simply because he knew Deception's side wanted to make contact with Aran. With Layla out of the picture, it would not be impossible for her to do so. In any case, given Deception's magic, it would not be hard for her to deceive Aran. Her mage level might be restricted at the moment, but at the end of the day, the restriction in Somuli was flawed because it was made by a fake Sovereign. Apart from that, Aran was ill. He might have a higher mage level, but he was prone to fall to Illusion depending on what scene Deception showed him.

Thinking back on how Kyran himself had fallen to Deception's Illusion, Aran would not stand a chance given how many dark and ugly secrets he had.

Apart from that, there was the matter of the main array formation under the castle. Armak said he sensed something. Still, what he sensed might not exactly be the main array formation. As for the matter with Breira, while one would think that the main array formation could still be fine since he was still trapped, there were several independent array formations inside the main array formation. The array formation that trapped Breira might be an independent formation and not the main array formation.

The main array formation housed several array formations where a few could act independently. As long as the former was active, then all these array formations would continue to function well.

Considering all this, Kyran guessed that the main array formation might have been damaged but not completely destroyed. Thus, all array formations, as long as the room where they were located were still intact, were still working.

"A damaged main array formation will be easy to adjust," Kyran muttered as a slight smile appeared on his face.

"What did you say, Lord Master—? WHAAAA—! WHERE ARE YOU HEADING?"

The female spirit's face turned pale after Kyran jumped toward the fast-approaching red and gold lights.

Kyran's silver eyes flashed. The slits turned to round and bore a reddish-purple glint. Rousing his Void magic but allowing his Draconic magic to be the main magic energy circulating through his body. A silver with dark purple armor covered his whole body, and using the Dragon Steps, he appeared to the first group of automatons.

Two obsidian swords appeared before each of his hands. Deftly grabbing the swords, they gave out a faint dark purple glint as he made a 360-degree turn while striking his swords at the first row of automatons.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

In the blink of an eye, the energy cores of four automatons were cut in half.

Normally, the part where they were cut would produce crackling sounds from the severed wires. But these automatons did not give that out. Instead, their energy cores were cut cleanly in half, and their lights immediately went out.

The four automatons then started to fall back into the dark passage.

Kyran did not pause after destroying the energy cores of those four automatons. He continued to do the same with the rest.

Of course, the automatons did not stay idle. They also went after Kyran and aimed their weapons at his weak points. Alas, with the armor he was wearing, it was impossible for these automatons to pierce through its defenses. Besides, the silver armor not only boasted powerful magical and physical defenses, but the Void nature or nothingness was also incorporated with it; if a weapon or attack did manage to pierce through the armor's surface, it would then be triggered. Those attacks would then be rendered ineffective.

As Kyran continued to plunge deep into the dark passage, the gigantic automaton found him and also went to chase him.

Kyran, sensing this, smiled slightly. If he could get the gigantic automaton to retreat back to the lowest level of the underground section, it would be easier for him to control the overall situation.

To be honest, he was very worried about how everyone was doing. But if he allowed these automatons to leave the underground section, then all hell would break loose.