Outskirts, near the Regis Estate.
Silas was standing on a tree branch, a few kilometers away from the estate’s entrance.
Gage, on the other hand, was hiding under the same tree.
“You see anything?” Gage asked.
“Shh!” Silas hissed.
Gage frowned. All this sneaking around was not his style, and Silas’s bossy attitude annoyed him. He liked the thrill of not knowing the danger of a mission. And once he encountered a life or death situation, that moment was exhilarating to him.
Today, however, even though he did not like sneaking around, the clues from their conversation with the owner of the pub left him wondering.
If a disturbance happened in your area, wouldn’t people wonder what happened? How come the attitude of the owner was uninterested? He even shrugged it off as the Regis people having too much fun because of their young master’s birthday.
After leaving the pub, Silas immediately decided to check the Regis Estate.
It was only then that Gage understood that it was not that the owner dismissed the disturbance but that it was a subtle clue for them to check it.
When he asked Silas about it, Silas just looked at him blankly and just shook his head without a reply. That annoyed him.
But Gage had to admit that not knowing what they were dealing with would be counterproductive if they met their target.
After a few minutes, Silas finally jumped down.
“It’s no good. There are too many officers from the Royal Army guarding the premise.”
“The royal dogs? Why would they be guarding the Regis Estate? Do they have connections with the army?”
Silas sighed. Sometimes he wondered what Gage’s brain was made of.
“No, they don’t. Most likely, the disturbance last night had something to do with the Royal Army.” He patiently explained to Gage.
“What business do those dogs have with the Regis?”
Silas pondered for a moment. He looked in the direction of the estate again. Then he looked at the forest nearby. If his theory was correct, then they might be in a tough spot.
“The division of the Royal Army we saw at the pub is from the Forbidden Magic Control Squad. Those guarding the gates of the Regis clan are part of the Tracking Mages from the same division. It is definitely related to forbidden magic. Most likely, our anonymous client is a big shot from the Royal Army–.”
“What?” Gage roared in anger, interrupting Silas.
“Shh!” Silas clamped his hand on Gage’s mouth. It was actually hard to do since Gage was bigger and taller than him. “Don’t make a sound!”
“I hate those royal dogs!”
Silas gave him a deadpan look, “Yeah, I noticed.”
“If I had known–.”
“What, you’re going to back out?” Silas’s expression became serious. “You are a mercenary. Once you accept a job, your client’s identity doesn’t matter.”
Gage gritted his teeth. What Silas said was true. It was not the first time he had to accept a job where he disliked the client. As a mercenary, he was paid to do a job, not judge his client.
Still.
Silas watched Gage in silence. He understood Gage’s conflicted feeling. He also had reason to hate the Royal Army, but he wanted to know more about their target right now.
What Silas could understand from the situation was that the Regis clan might have practiced forbidden magic, and their target managed to escape with some crucial information. Or the target himself was the one who practices forbidden magic, and the whole clan let him run.
But if that was true, how did the target manage to escape from these men. Why did the Regis clan let the target escape endangering all of them in the process?
Initially, Silas wanted to do this alone. Now, Gage’s inclusion would increase his chances of dealing with uncertainties in this job.
“Listen. Let us put behind us who our client is now. What we can do is proceed with the job and see how it goes,” Silas tried to convince Gage.
When Gage did not reply, Silas added.
“Our target is someone the Royal Army wants. Whether we proceed with his capture or not, we can decide after coming in contact with him. I do not know how deep your hatred is to the Royal Army, but if this person managed to ruffle the feathers of that big shot from the army, then maybe we can use him against them. What do you think?”
Gage finally loosened a little and looked at him. After a few seconds, he finally nodded and agreed.
“Fine.”
Silas smiled, “Alright. Then let’s come up with a plan.”
====================
Back at the cave.
Kyran finished checking his things. Sure enough, none was missing.
He looked at the cloaked man again.
The cloaked man had his back on him as he lay on the ground. Kyran was not sure if he really was asleep or not.
Taking a deep breath, Kyran took out a piece of bread and dried meat from the pouch. Then he started to eat.
Oddly, he did not feel that hungry even after all the things that happened. The white potion’s effect was really too good, although he suffered from it as well.
Once Kyran finished eating. He thought about leaving some food for the cloaked man as thanks for saving him but dismissed the notion right away.
The cloaked man said it himself. He did not need his gratitude.
Securing the pouch on his belt, Kyran stood up.
‘Better leave while I am ahead,’ he thought.
As he walked toward the entrance, however, the whole cave trembled.
‘What’s happening?’ Kyran thought in alarm.
“F*cking hell! Can’t a person get a decent sleep around here? ” The cloaked man suddenly roared.
He sat up and turned to Kyran.
Kyran looked at him in return, “I didn’t do it.”
“Did I say you did?” the cloaked man retorted.
Before Kyran could reply, the tremor worsened. The cave’s ceiling started to show signs of crumbling.
The cloaked man cursed as he stood and ran outside.
Kyran also followed.
What greeted them outside made their scalp go numb.
Array after array circled above them. The color of the arrays ranges from green, blue, yellow, and red, from the smallest at the center to the largest that covers a large area.
If this work was seen in town, people might find it beautiful. However, the effect of this array was far from beautiful.
Kyran felt cold. He was sure he warped quite a distance. How did they arrive so quickly?
“Damn it,” he cursed under his breath.
The cloaked man heard this and looked at Kyran. He saw a faint purple ring appear underneath his feet.
“Stop, you idiot!” the cloaked man shouted and immediately grabbed Kyran.
“Don’t you even recognize that array? That is a tier four multiple array, the Four-colored Ruin. That array will target anyone who uses magic outside its calculation, and huge magic energy will attack and destroy the caster!”
Kyran was stunned, “What?”
The cloaked man frowned. The moment he saw Kyran’s magic array, he felt something amiss. He ignored it because he did not care at the time. Seeing Kyran’s reaction, he was now 80% sure that this kid had no idea how to apply calculations when using his magic. Thus, his magic has no rune writing and cannot be considered an array.
Before the cloaked man could say more, a soft hum vibrated from the array.
“Shit!” he exclaimed. “They want to force-activate the array! Those f*cking assholes.”
The cloaked man started to run.
Kyran also followed.
====================
A few miles away from the cave.
Dior and his men stood below the center of the array.
They formed a circle around Dior while they summoned their magic.
Dior, on the other hand, was staring at the mini magic detector in his hand. Just a few seconds ago, it lit up and pointed in a direction.
He sneered and looked in the direction where the magic signature appeared.
“Activate the array!” he commanded.
The array above hummed as all his men urged their magic.
Dior also summoned his magic and connected the coordinates from the magic detector to the array’s center.
His eyes glowed red.
Concentrated magic slowly formed at the center of the array.
“Fire!”
The concentrated magic blasted at the coordinates that the magic detector showed.
====================
From Kyran and the cloaked man’s side, they saw the incoming attack from the array.
‘Oh shit,’ the cloaked man hissed.
He knew he would not make it outside the attack’s range. Therefore, he decided to stop and face the incoming magic. Fog-like shadow seeped under his cloak.
But just as he was about to urge the shadow to fill the area around him, he saw Kyran face the attack as well.
What surprised him was the resolute expression on Kyran’s face as he lifted his right hand toward the incoming attack. The strange purple rings appeared from his wrist.
The purple rings surged forward and expanded vertically in front of Kyran.
‘Holy shit,’ the cloaked man’s eyes grew big as he saw a vertical fissure appear, tearing at the space from the center of the purple rings.
The air around Kyran crackled as the fissure expanded. He gritted his teeth as the attack from the array above hit the fissure.
The cloaked man braced himself as the magic attack and the fissure met. To his shock, the magic attack seemed to enter the fissure, and the impact he was expecting did not come.
‘What in the world…?’ The cloaked man stared at Kyran’s back in disbelief.
====================
From Dior’s end.
All of them were dumbfounded.
They waited for the blast to appear once the magic attack hit the coordinate’s location. But the blast did not come. Instead, the magic attack started to fade.
‘It’s him! He’s really there!’ Dior was furious.
“All of you prepare for another attack! Wait for my signal,” he commanded.
Dior did not wait for his men to reply, he immediately rushed toward the direction where the magic attack vanished.