Legacy of the Dark Sage

Kyran looked down at the enormous golden array that appeared on the ground.

From his earlier probing, he was already aware of what the array within the Templar Code's make-shift camp could do. Two reasons he did not do anything to counter it were; first, he did not want to deal with them covertly, and second, he could not flaunt his ability in Array.

As far as the Templar Code was concerned, Kyran was a mysterious masked man with monstrous strength. Besides, he had other ways to deal with their array.

"Humph," Kyran sneered. Then, without turning, he lifted his right arm and slammed his fist at the incoming beast from behind.

The beast exploded into a mixture of blood, flesh, and organs.

RAWRGH!

More beasts closed in on him, and their eyes glowed red in a furious outburst.

Kyran's eyes glinted in curiosity. Though he no longer used the Void magic to boost his ability to repel beasts forcefully, his aura was now similar to a dragon.

The Draconic magic flowing inside him further amplified the dragon-like body he now possessed after completing his amalgamation of the Elixir. The aura he emitted alone should have caused these beasts to tremble before him.

It was a different reaction from his Void's ability, where beasts stayed away from him. Instead, the response his presence could evoke was the kind that would make a beast tremble both in awe and fear because of the majestic existence that a dragon naturally possessed.

However, these beasts were not affected. On the contrary, they even seemed to be more enraged at Kyran.

'Is it that big guy's magic?' Kyran wondered while he charged at another beast. He clasped his hands together and bashed the top of the beast's head.

Because of the beast's hard skull, it did not explode like the others but only suffered a large crack. Then, added to the force with which Kyran had bashed the beast's head, it slammed to the ground, creating a small crater.

Kyran stepped back with his left leg and, using his right leg, performed a frontal leg axe kick hitting the beast's back head which finally gave in and exploded into pieces of bones, flesh, and brain matter.

RAWRGH!

Three large beasts roared as they jumped toward Kyran, their poisonous claws outstretched and aimed at his head.

Kyran looked at the beasts with glowing silver eyes, reflecting a thoughtful look.

He then recalled what he did after returning to the cottage. While he busied himself with fixing his puppets, he was also thinking of other ways to increase his 'human' resources. One of Gage and Silas's tasks was to gather people or at least a force who would be willing to go against the Royal Army.

But it had only been a couple of weeks since then. They couldn't gather that many people or force that could rival the Royal Army.

No, it should be the Royal Family now. Kyran might even be up against all factions that had become part of the Empire's Elite Force.

Because of this, Kyran had few options where he could gather people or his force. He had yet to take over the Blue Lotus, but even they were not enough. The puppets would also take some time because he was the only one who could create them.

That was why he thought of finding a force using a different channel. And he had thought of the mutated beasts in the Valley of Morte.

Unfortunately, he had not been able to practice taming beasts back in the Tower of Tribulation because the tower had sealed his Draconic magic. However, he did learn about Beast Arts when he trained in the Thualki plane.

'I can't tame beasts because they steer clear of me even without activating my magic,' Kyran continued to ponder. 'And I don't think I can force them to submit as I did to Zephyr because of my dragon-like presence.'

The latter he learned after training in the Thualki plane. In that plane, most of its inhabitants were beastmasters.

Because the Elixir caused Kyran's dragon-like body, he did not need the Draconic magic to be in that state. While he was in the Thualki plane, the beasts had stayed away from him. But when a beastmaster commanded his beasts to approach him, all beasts acted with respect. Even when the beastmasters forced their beasts to attack Kyran, the beasts dared not. There was even an incident where a beast chose to take its life than attack Kyran.

Kyran had earned the title Beast Overlord because of this incident. It was also due to this that he almost failed his training.

He was sent to the Thualki plane to understand Beast Arts. If all of them believed he was already an Overlord, how would he ask them to teach him?

Putting this aside, Kyran was very curious as to how the big guy from the Templar Code could still force these beasts to attack him.

He previously thought of isolating a group of mutated beasts and forcefully performing the Sigil, but then he wondered where he could leave them? He also could not take care of their food or have them wander around the forest because they would draw too much attention.

But now, Kyran wondered if he could get someone else to tame the beasts, he could also let that person take care of them.

Of course, he would make sure he could control that person.

While Kyran was lost in his thoughts, the three large beasts had shortened the gap and were only half a meter away from slicing off his head.

Kyran stepped forward with his right foot and lifted his left leg; silver-white energy covered his shin. Then he did a roundhouse kick and swept through the beasts' outstretched claws.

WHOOSH!

A beautiful silver-white arc formed that slashed toward the beasts, instantly reducing them to dust.

A hundred meters away, Max coughed out a mouthful of blood from the backlash of having his beast horde destroyed one after another. He had been suppressing the pain, but after the masked man killed off more than thirty of them, he could no longer stop it.

"Sir Max!" A few Templar Code members rushed to his side as he fell to his knees.

"Fine!" Max grunted as he lifted his hand to stop their advance. Then he looked at them and noticed their number had lessened. So he turned to one of them and asked, "The others?"

"As soon as Lady Freya activated the escape array, they went to assist," the man in a silver armor replied.

Max sighed inwardly. He was unable to monitor his members' movement earlier and feared they had rushed in with the beasts and died in the hands of the masked man. Knowing that they had left to help out with the array made him feel at ease.

"Max!"

A voice suddenly called from the side.

"Sir Reuben!" The rest of the Templar Code members with Max greeted as Reuben dashed to their location.

Max also looked at him and nodded in greeting.

Reuben looked at the rest of the members.

"There were others with us earlier. Unfortunately, because of the explosions, we got separated. Find them and get them to safety ASAP. Our priority is to leave the camp."

"Yes, sir Reuben!" They all answered in unison and left at once.

They would rather choose to get as far away from the masked man. The strength he had shown had left an enormous impression on them that would haunt them for the rest of their lives if they ever survive this day.

As soon as they had left, Reuben turned to Max.

"That masked guy destroyed all of Lady Freya's magic items," he said meaningfully.

Max immediately scowled at his words. He understood what Reuben meant about the magic items. For that masked person to destroy all in such a short time told he was someone they could not handle.

Seeing Max's expression, Reuben could more or less guess what he was thinking. So he explained, "Lady Freya activated the array for this reason. We have to abandon the Quilin for now."

Max nodded in agreement. Then he looked back at his remaining beast horde, trying to pin down the masked man. Seeing how proficient the man was in clearing his beast horde, he more or less guessed they only had two minutes at most to complete the array's activation.

"Who?" He asked Reuben.

Reuben paused for the briefest moment before replying, "I believe he is the same person who killed sir Owen, Dess, and Quinne."

"Rawrgh!" Max suddenly roared in anger. But then he coughed out another mouthful of blood as the number of his beast horde went down.

"Max!" Reuben knelt beside him and was about to take out a high-grade healing potion when Max grabbed his hand and grunted, "Summon the rest."

Reuben's brow furrowed as he understood what Max meant. He immediately shook his head and disagreed, "No. If you summon the rest, your body will not be able to take the backlash."

"No choice," Max replied, his reddish-brown eyes glinted with determination. "Buy time."

His decision was fueled by the fact that they still needed time to activate the array. If they could not hold that masked man for another five minutes, then they would not be able to exact revenge for their fallen comrades.

Max looked at Reuben and said what would become the longest he had ever uttered in his life, "I leave the rest to you."

Reuben's eyes widened at the realization of what Max wanted to do.

"No—!"

Max coughed out another mouthful of blood as the last of his beast horde had been destroyed.

"Max—!"

"GO!"

With that, Max roused his magic. His eyes glowed red as he took out two red pills.

Reuben knew what those pills were. Those pills could boost a mage's magic level; one pill meant an increase of one level. However, they were still in the initial testing, and the backlash of eating one was tremendous. For this reason, it was not advisable to eat two at once.

Reuben clenched his fists. He wanted to stop Max, but he also knew that they needed someone to keep the masked man busy while they completed the activation of the escape array.

With eyes burning with cold determination, Reuben stood up and saluted Max.

"Leave the rest to me."

With that, he steeled his nerves and left.

Max smiled slightly and also stood up. He looked at the masked man, who was now looking at him.

It was unknown what the masked mas was thinking.

However, Max was not interested in that. He would do everything to keep the masked man busy and let the rest of the Templar Code escape.

"FIGHT!" He growled as he took the two red pills.

In an instant, a surge of powerful energy erupted from him.