Legacy of the Dark Sage

Even with Neo's inhuman sensors, he failed to locate the ancient-sounding voice's position. Accurately speaking, the latter's presence appeared to be nowhere near them but, at the same time, was everywhere. As if he could see and hear their every movement.

It was a very uncomfortable feeling.

"Your magic level is also unfathomable," the ancient-sounding voice continued. "You don't have the aura of a Magus. Yet, you are able to hold your own against them."

Unable to endure the oppressing feeling the ancient-sounding voice instilled in them, the man in a red coat's magic pressure exploded, instantly covering his whole body in deep-red flames.

"You dare enter the Lumley Family's, Ancestral Hall—."

"Stop! Don't speak!"

"—and even brazenly kill one of our—!"

SPLAT!

The man's head also exploded, sending brain matter, blood, flesh, and crushed bones everywhere.

A few of the man's brain matter splattered on the woman in a red gown's face and her eyes constricted in disgust. But the fear and shock she felt for witnessing two Magus exploding to their death were far greater than the latter, so she kept her thoughts of disgust to herself.

As a matter of fact, she had decided not to provoke the owner of the ancient-sounding voice because she already had an idea of his identity.

The woman in a red gown is actually the previous Matriarch of the Lumley Family. That makes her the current Patriarch's aunt and sister of Matias and Tobias's grandfather.

Publicly, the Lumley declared her death twenty years ago, but the truth was she decided to become the 'keeper' of the Lumley Ancestral Hall. But the latter was only a title. The real reason she wanted to hide was to focus on breaking through the limits of a Magus. In this way, she could become the Lumley Family's trump card when the time to usurp the Royal Family comes.

Her idea was not exactly original because most noble families wanted to do the same. Unfortunately, it was near impossible to produce a Magus in a generation.

In any case, these noble families had come up with an insidious plan like that due to a story they had uncovered in the Boyd Family.

It was the story of a Boyd ancestor who went into a deep slumber but would return if their family was in danger. If that ancestor were only an ordinary Magus, the other noble families would not really think much of it. But it was said that the slumbering ancestor was actually a Legendary mage.

Because of this 'story,' the other noble families were inspired to produce a powerful mage of their own. However, few had the ability to do this, which was why the craze soon faded in time. It was not exaggerated to say that the woman might be the only one who pursued the idea.

Soon, her obsession with the rumor led to the discovery that it was not a mere 'story' fabricated by the Boyd Family to keep the Arthall Family in check.

There really is a Boyd mage who reached the level of a half-step Legendary a few hundred years ago. If that mage is still alive, then the probability that the mage has reached the Legendary level is high.

With this in mind, the woman in a red gown felt that the owner of the ancient-sounding voice is definitely that mage from the Boyd Family. She was convinced of this from how he mentioned the 'Crown Princess' so endearingly. As if her existence was the only thing that mattered to them. A feat that had stayed with the Boyd Family members even when the Winfrey Family had declined.

Apart from this, the man said the Crown Princess valued Disciple Tyr. A fact that almost every noble family in the empire was already aware of. As a matter of fact, it had been one of the reasons they detested Disciple Tyr.

"Y-Your Grace," the woman said as she prostrated herself on the floor. "Please, stay your hand."

A cold silence followed the woman's request.

When the woman was about to speak again, an ear-splitting sound entered her ears, threatening to crush her eardrum. She hurriedly covered her ears and concentrated her magic defenses there before shouting.

"P-Please! S-Stop, your Grace! W-We are not your enemy!"

"No? Yet you tried to kill our young Mistress's man."

"I-I'm sorry! T-This young man entered our Ancestral Hall and went on a rampage! You, yourself, are part of a prestigious family. A-At least, I presume you are. So you understand how it feels when your people are killed one after another before you... We— I am only trying to defend my family!" The woman hurriedly reasoned, targeting the man's empathy by reminding him of how he went into slumber but promised to help his family in a dire situation.

The man erupted in laughter, and his ancient-sounding voice shook the whole place.

Neo's eyes constricted as his sensors picked up a powerful vibration from underground. With this discovery, he focused 70% of his sensors on observing the ground.

Soon, he noticed that the vibration came from the northwest direction of the hall and was several kilometers deep underground. A reading that was simply impossible for Neo to detect accurately. Not to mention, it was a depth that a mage would be unable to reach and stay alive.

In any case, he entered this information in his database and tried finding out if he matched any of the mage information his master recorded.

Meanwhile, the man finally stopped laughing and said, "That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard in a long while."

A ringing sound reverberated in the hall, and the woman's body was thrown in the air.

"No, I— guah!"

Invisible pressure assaulted the woman's body in every direction, making her spit out mouthfuls of blood in the air. Her eyes turned bloodshot as her magic barrier was rendered useless from the invisible pressure's onslaught. In a matter of ten seconds, her whole body was turned into a bloody pulp.

"If my family is killed before my eyes, it serves them right for being weak. The Boyd Family doesn't need weaklings," the man said. His voice sounded so cold it could freeze anyone who heard him.

At least, anyone but Neo.

Neo's indifferent expression made the man's interest in him piqued further. The former did not even blink when the woman's body fell to the floor with a loud splat.

A few of her flesh sprayed in Neo's direction. But it only touched the bottom part of the barrier before turning to dust.

"You have an interesting barrier," the man said.

"Thanks, I guess."

The man laughed again and said, "You look unfazed even after witnessing how I easily disposed of them, who you seem to have some difficulty dealing with."

"Old man," Neo replied, sounding a little annoyed. "Don't flatter yourself. Can't you see the bodies littering the floor? That's my handy work. I may be a mage, but I am still 'human.' I do get tired. That's why I want to exhaust the three of them, so we are in the same state. Then I'll strike back."

"I see," the man did not seem to have taken offence at Neo's impertinence and conversed with him as if they were talking in a normal setting with no corpses around. "So you enduring their attacks is a bid to regain some of your magic energy."

"Why else would I endure their attacks?" Neo said while rolling his eyes. "Don't state the obvious, old man."

The man laughed once more, shaking the hall once again. It was then followed by invisible pressures that bombarded Neo in every direction.

Neo's pupil constricted as warning messages appeared behind his vision.

[Warning. Recovery of Void energy has been disrupted... Stopping at 73%...]

[Warning. Void energy has been reduced to 68%...]

The pace at which the Void energy decreased was far greater than when the three Magus had bombarded him with several attacks. This was a testament to the man's strength, which paled in comparison to the joint attacks from the latter three.

If this continued, the barrier would be destroyed in less than a minute. Neo had to do something before that happened.

Just as he was trying to devise a plan, the lone island he was standing on finally crumbled, forcing him to lose a stable foothold. However, he did not release the barrier. Instead, he opened a small space at the bottom to ensure he would not 'destroy' his feet once he stepped on the barrier.

This was actually the downside of using the Void barrier. Since Neo was not really born with the Void magic energy, he was not immune to it and would suffer if he touched it.

Basically, Kyran was the only one immune to the Void energy because he possessed the Void core.

As soon as a small opening appeared at the bottom of the barrier, a loud ringing entered Neo's ear, and his system almost shut down from the strain. He fell to the floor, and the barrier flickered, and at that moment, the invisible pressure came pouring down at him from every direction.

*

"Kyran?" Rin looked at Kyran in concern. She thought he did not respond to her plea because he had reservations about using the conch. Thus, she decided to make him change his mind.

"You are not really thinking of using that to..."

But Rin's voice trailed off because Kyran suddenly said something that baffled her.

"Mother, Grandfather, Uncle Jared, they have now made their move."