Legacy of the Dark Sage

When the dagger-wielding enemy mage first reacted to the Dragon Steps, Kyran wondered if he had a way of tracking him through his innate magic. Kyran considered the former to possess a rare innate ability of precognition, which might have allowed him to see the future for a few seconds.

Kyran then thought that by moving faster than the enemy mage's precognition could reveal his next position, he might be able to find a breakthrough and gain an advantage.

In the end, Kyran deemed that increasing the Dragon Steps' speed was not the answer. If the enemy mage's innate ability were indeed precognition, it would not be limited to predicting his movements. On the off chance that the enemy mage predicted Kyran's plan, then everything would have been pointless.

But something changed Kyran's mind about his initial assumption of the enemy mage's innate ability.

It happened when the three enemy mages managed to get the upper hand and almost landed a direct hit on Kyran. In that situation, Kyran knew using Dragon Steps would be futile and, thus, teleported instead. When he was successful, and the enemy mage he thought possessed precognition failed to predict it, he knew his line of thought had been wrong.

Instead, Kyran racked his brain while focusing on the enemy mage's innate magic. He recalled everything he knew about Sound magic— presuming it was the dagger-wielding enemy mage's innate magic and not just something he could command. It was at that moment that he sensed the unseen attack that stunned him previously.

By then, Kyran already had an idea of what caused it and knew that the stun was only an aftereffect of the sound wave the enemy mage released.

After that, the subtle hints akin to puzzle pieces formed a huge image in Kyran's head as he figured out how the enemy mage could predict his position.

Rather than use the term predict, it was better to say that the enemy mage determined Kyran's position by sending out sonar waves similar to bats. Doing so allowed the enemy mage to pinpoint Kyran's position because no matter how fast he moved, his body was still a solid mass that could reflect sound upon getting hit by the enemy mage's sonar wave.

However, if Kyran teleported, his whole body would disappear completely before reappearing at the spot where he wanted to be. Thus, the sonar wave would fail to detect a sound because a body was not there to reflect it.

The enemy mage was smart, though. He did not stop releasing the sonar wave when he failed to find Kyran and continued to release them until Kyran was finally hit.

Kyran was slightly disoriented after that. Thus, he missed his original target and killed a different one.

Ultimately, Kyran was convinced that the enemy mage could utilize Sound magic's nature to speed up and figure out his position by releasing sonar waves.

Knowing these facts would not have changed Kyran's situation much. After all, the fact that he could only rely on their killing intent to guess their position remained. He had been relying on pure instincts to evade their attacks, but all of those had been close calls.

If only Kyran could see their action, even a subtle movement to guess their next move, he could turn the tides against them.

But then something unexpected happened.

The multi-casted spells around the area lost their effects, ultimately allowing him to see the enemies.

Without wasting any more time, Kyran moved in for the kill. Now that he had a clear, unobstructed view of his enemy, he could strike them with Void-based lightning attacks.

At the moment, Kyran could only target one of the enemy mages because they were not positioned in the same direction, meaning he did not have a clear view of the other.

Kyran's eyes glinted as he struck the dagger-wielding enemy mage.

Crackle!

But.

"Ngh…!"

Shiloh was shocked at the strength of the lightning attack that struck him at point blank. If not for his armor's enhancements, he would have been fatally wounded. Nonetheless, he could not relax just because he managed to escape death because after that strike, his armor's enhancements and array were utterly destroyed.

"Shiloh!" Uilleam called, realizing Shiloh's predicament.

Unlike Shiloh, Uilleam had not realized that the multi-casted spells were gone. Thus, he did not bother using telepathy and usually spoke to the latter.

Uilleam regained his balance and immediately shot forward to the enemy mage, who seemed fixated on Shiloh.

Unfortunately, he miscalculated the enemy mage's intention and was shocked when the latter disappeared before his eyes.

"Uilleam!" Shiloh shouted in fear. Though he had not figured out the enemy mage's new movement technique, the fact that he could not detect it with his sonar spelled danger.

Shiloh used the nature of his magic to ensure his warning could reach Uilleam faster than the enemy mage's reappearance.

On the other hand, Uilleam felt a prickling sensation at the back of his neck and immediately reinforced his armor with his Armor magic.

Crackle!

Ding!

Uilleam's body barely endured the impact after getting hit by the dark purple lightning. If he had not reinforced his armor with his magic, he would have been rendered immobile and unable to dodge the attack from the enemy mage that followed.

After casting the lightning attack, Kyran closed in on Uilleam— as Shiloh, the dagger-wielding enemy mage, called him— and brandished his swords, aiming at the latter's neck.

Krrshhk!

Kyran furrowed his brows as the blades of his swords grazed the surface of Uilleam's armor and produced rasping sounds. His swords were imbued with Void magic energy, yet Uilleam still managed to defend against it.

How was that possible?

Kyran sensed Uilleam's defense-oriented magic was quite special to withstand the dissolving effect of his Void armor. But he did not expect it to continue defending against the Void's nature, especially when the blades of his swords were imbued with highly concentrated Void magic energy.

Kyran had no time to dwell on the missed opportunity as he sensed magic activity from Shiloh's position.

[Kyran! That guy is trying to reestablish the spells and rob you of your senses again!]

Shaiha's warning came at the same time Kyran realized Shiloh's intentions.

Without responding to Shaiha, Kyran decided to deal with Shiloh once and for all.

But.

Crack! Shatter!

"What?" Shiloh's eyes widened in shock as the magic arrays he summoned shattered.

Kyran was similarly surprised. But he did not stop because of this strange occurrence and took this opening to teleport right in front of Shiloh.

Shiloh's eyes constricted when he witnessed the enemy mage disappear from his line of sight. By then, he knew that he was f*cked up.

A prickling sensation tethered right at the side of Shiloh's neck as his peripheral view caught sight of a dark purple flash aimed at it. That flash came from the enemy mage's weapon. Shiloh would not have panicked if this had happened a few minutes back because his armor, which came up to his neck, could deflect any form of attack.

But his armor enhancements were already gone, and a regular blade could have easily cut and killed him.

Shiloh's instincts shouted that he should not give up and try to utilize the nature of his magic to escape. But deep down, his will seemed to have already given up to fate.

"Don't just stand there! Move!" Uilleam shouted at Shiloh while pushing the latter away.

Krrshhk!

Kyran gritted his teeth in annoyance as, once again, his swords only grazed Uilleam's armor.

"Ngh…!"

But this time, Uilleam uttered a muffled cry as he felt a sting seeped into his skin. Sensing this made him realize that the enemy mage's swords managed to sink into his armor.

Kyran caught on to this and immediately launched a tirade of sword attacks.

Uilleam tried to defend against the enemy mage's sword attacks by blocking them with his forearms. However, the more he deflected them, the more he noticed his armor in that part was running thin.

Shiloh, who tumbled to the side after getting pushed aside by Uilleam, could not help but gape at them dumbfoundedly.

It seemed ironic that Shiloh and Uilleam, who were supposed to be part of the Blade Dancer Clan, were pressured by the enemy mage's sword dance.

If others were to see them, one would wonder who the actual members of the Blade Dancer Clan were between them.

Fortunately, Uilleam still managed to defend against the enemy mage's tirade of sword attacks as he continued to utilize his Armor magic.

Seeing this allowed Shiloh to regain his senses. This was not the time to be awed by their enemy. With this in mind, he charged at the enemy mage while removing his armor and replacing it with new ones in the blink of an eye.

Or at least, that was what Shiloh planned to do.

"I-I can't use my storage pouch!"

Uilleam heard him, but since he was too focused on defending against Kyran, he could not respond.

"Guah!"

Until the enemy mage's swords finally managed to penetrate through his armor! Experience the best on m_v_l_e_m_p_y_r

[Kyran, this…!]

Shaiha's excitement could be heard from her exclamation.

Even without the connection he had with her, Kyran knew why she got excited. In fact, he also felt something was amiss the moment Shiloh's multi-casted spells disappeared.

That was right.

Contrary to what Shiloh believed, his spells did not exceed its duration. Instead, their effects were forcefully removed.

This was also the case with Shiloh's inability to open his storage pouch, which required one to use his magic sense, and Uilleam's Armor magic inability to continue reinforcing his armor.

Kyran clearly saw why it happened. It was because Shiloh and Uilleam could no longer utilize their magic energy and the magic energies in their surroundings.

[…the Tower seems to have genuinely recognized you if it's helping you like this!]