Legacy of the Dark Sage

It took Kyran five minutes to understand the structure of the cube. Its size was no more than fifty kilometers in all directions. When he tried to punch the ‘walls’, it somehow absorbed the force of his punch and received no damage. Then he noticed that each time he hit the wall, black rune writings would appear where his fist would land. If Kyran was right, the effect of these rune writings was to absorb physical attacks.

After a few seconds of deliberation, Kyran molded a Void Spear and attacked the wall. He managed to damage the wall, but soon after, the black run writings appeared once more and repaired the damaged part.

It turned out that the calculations on the black rune writings were made to absorb physical and magic attacks.

However, Kyran’s Void magic was much more effective than when he utilized his Draconic magic to boost his physical strength.

Kyran had wanted to blast a pure Draconic magic attack on the wall, similar to how he countered Zephyr’s attack back in the ruins. But he soon realized that he could only shoot out Draconig magic with his punches or kicks if he were using at least 80% of its power.

In the end, Kyran focused only on using Void attacks on the wall.

After a minute of attacking the wall using various Void weapons he could mold, Kyran realized the wall itself was thick. If he wanted to destroy it, he would have to use a bigger attack.

That put him into a dilemma because he could only use less than 50% of his Void magic.

Finally, Kyran decided to blast a pure Void attack on the wall. If he did this, it would strain his damaged magic core, so he had to prepare first.

Kyran suddenly remembered something as he went back to where Muto and Sen’s corpses lay. Blood and human stench filled the air around there.

Ignoring the smell, Kyran inspected their corpses and found their space storage. Both of which were pouches stitched on their coat pockets. An idea popped into Kyran’s mind while he ripped the pouch off Sen’s coat. When he got to Muto, he did not rip it off but took the whole coat.

Kyran did this because he noticed the coat had advanced enchantments and wanted to study it. Of course, he was not stupid to use it for himself. After all, that was the Royal Army Special Ops’ uniform. Who knew if it had a tracking enchantment as well.

Kyran found an empty container in his storage pouch and placed the Sen’s pouch and the Muto’s coat inside. After that, he put the container back in his pouch. He placed the pouch and coat in a container because it had been soaked with Sen and Muto’s blood. Kyran did not want to have their blood stain the inside of his storage pouch.

Once he was done, he took out three magic energy replenishing potions and drank them. He also took out a healing pill to alleviate his internal injuries, even if a little. After that, he returned to the wall where he first did his experiments and prepared to destroy it.

====================

Back at the ravine.

Cyneah gaped in fright as she watched the ‘light’ with black swirling mist in the middle, which was far from her a second ago, blinked then reappeared right before her. Thin arms grabbed her from the waist to stop her fall.

Cyneah knew immediately that the one who grabbed her was the person who had that ominous-looking light, and she struggled to break free.

“L-Let go!” She shouted and made every attack she knew. She kicked her legs, moved her elbows, made use of her balled fist to punch out, and even tried to bump her head in any direction.

“Stop fighting! I am not going to hurt you!”

The woman told her, but Cyneah knew better. She had heard that line countless times ever since she could remember. Every time, she ended up beaten up and almost struggling to stay alive. Everyone lied to her, everyone except ‘Nar’.

That was right.

‘Nar’ never said anything kind when they first met. He hurt her and even threatened to break her bones when she struggled to break free from his hold.

But though he never said anything nice at first, he was the first person to ever thank her just by answering a straightforward question. He never sugarcoated his words. Instead, he showed kindness through actions.

“N-No! Let go!”

Cyneah ignored the woman’s plea and continued to struggle. She could hear running water below. Though she could not estimate how far and deep it was, she would rather fall there and drift in the water than be captured and be a burden to ‘Nar’.

Cora’s patience was running thin. Her patience was never that long, to begin with. Only when doing missions, would she do her best in being patient. She wanted to knock this girl out but refrained from doing it because she would suffer the consequences if the emperor found out she manhandled the princess.

Everyone knew how much the emperor doted on the princess. He would not tolerate anyone who would mishandle her. He even had two Royal Knight keep her watch whenever she left the palace…

Wait.

Cora was suddenly hit with a thought.

Why was the princess here in the first place? Why would she be with their target? Why were there no Royal Knights with her? More importantly, why was she dressed shabbily? Not to mention, her beautiful long hair had been cut short and her eyes—.

‘— are not blue!’

Cora’s countenance immediately turned cold as she sent out a palm at the girl’s abdomen.

“Guh!” Cyneah spat out a mouthful of blood and was blasted to the side of the river. Cracks formed at the ravine as she hit it, spatting another mouthful of blood from the impact before falling face-first on the side of the river.

“You are not the Crown Princess! Who are you?” Cora asked, her voice full of disdain as she landed a few feet away from the girl.

‘C-Crown p-princess?’ Cyneah thought as she struggled to get up.

“You have her face, and even the same scent,” Cora said through grounded teeth. Using her manipulation ability, she lifted the girl off the ground and slammed her on the ravine’s wall again.

Cyneah gasped as her back hit the wall. An invisible force locked her in place before she fell on the ground again.

𝒩𝒐𝑽𝓮𝔩𝔫𝖊xt.𝐂𝒐𝔪

With a scornful look, Cora took a step closer to the girl and demanded, “I asked who the hell are you?”

She manipulated the knife stuck on the girl’s forearm, removing it then piercing her in the stomach.

Cyneah did not cry out in pain. She only gasped the moment the knife pierced her and felt a hot searing pain spread throughout her body. Moving her balled fist, Cyneah tried to reach for the knife on her stomach. It was then she remembered something as she recalled why her fists were ‘balled’ right now.

Cora’s eyes narrowed from the girl’s stubbornness. It was not the first time she met someone who refused to cry out in pain after being beaten to death. But there was something about this girl that made Cora very annoyed.

Maybe it was because she got fooled by the girl’s uncanny resemblance to the princess. Or perhaps she was annoyed that she could not kill the girl until they confirmed her origin.

‘But even if she has any relation to the Royal Family, she is already a traitor for being together with the boy,’ Cora thought, referring to Kyran.

“If you don’t want to answer then I’ll—.”

Before Cora could finish her sentence, the girl suddenly lifted her right hand. A popping sound followed as she brought her hand to her face.

Only after the girl threw a small bottle did Cora realize that she had drunk a potion.

“You—.”

Once again, her words were cut off when the girl’s whole body blurred and disappeared. The cloak, including the girl’s clothes and belongings, not to mention the knife, fell on the ground with a dull sound.

“What—!”

Cora immediately roused her magic and manipulated the girl’s things. She brought it to her and tried to rummage inside. However, she did not find any clues about what happened to the girl.

“Aahh!” Cora screamed in frustration as she threw the girl’s belongings into the river, the current sweeping it further down the river.

Turning her attention back to where the girl was pinned on the wall, Cora walked over and finally noticed a trail of blood going south of the river.

A sinister glint flashed on Cora’s eyes as she smiled and followed the trail.

That was right. Cora was unsure of the potion the girl drank, but she guessed it had an invisibility effect. But this invisibility effect was different from the magic items Cora knew. Since it did not only make the girl appear invisible but also ‘formless’. Whoever made that potion was not a simple Alchemist. It might be a clue as to the girl’s origin.

With a sneer, Cora turned and was about to follow the trail of blood when suddenly…

Crack!

The sound was not that loud but Cora did hear a cracking sound. She turned around, trying to find where the sound came from. But because of the sound coming from the flowing river water, she failed to pinpoint its exact location.

Crackle!

Once again, Cora heard a sound. This time the sound was continuous, thus, she had enough time to locate it.

“Ah!” Cora suddenly felt burning sensation inside her coat pocket.

With a frown, she rummaged inside her pocket and found that the burning sensation came from the cube.

Cora immediately took out the cube. She did not dare use her hands to touch it for fear of getting burn. Instead she used her manipulation ability to take it out.

Boom!

As soon as the cube got out of Cora’s pocket, it exploded and almost blasted her sides into pieces.

“Argh!” Cora exclaimed in pain while she held her bleeding side.

Smoke filled the air from the explosion.

“W-What the hell just—.”

Cora’s sentence was interrupted when a hand appeared behind the smoke and immediately grabbed her throat. She was then pushed further until she was slammed on the ravine’s wall.

“Ack!” She cried in pain as she grabbed the hand, trying to yank it away.

“Where are they?”

A deep voice filled with contempt spoke.

As soon as the smoke cleared, Cora’s eyes widened seeing the owner of the hand and the voice.

It was none other Kyran.

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