Greyson felt the situation was grim, looking to the caravan members behind him, he could not help but sigh. What was the point of hiring such weaklings? Well, to be fair, advanced level magician were not technically trash, just in the grand scheme of things they were completely useless in any situation that Greyson could not handle. All they had were numbers, but actual strength put together was barely the same as Greyson as an individual and that was if they completely ignored death and attacked the opponents in a suicidal manner. Furrowing his brows, he looked toward them and waved his hand dismissively."You all should scatter, none of you are any use against magister level magicians. You will only get in the way." Since they could not help, they might as well not get in the way. Fear built up in them after traveling so long with Greyson, the others in the caravan quickly ran away in different direction without even looking back. Surprisingly, the four bandits did not act out and just allowed for the rest leave as if such weakling were a waste of their time. After taking care of the rest of the people, Greyson stepped to the front of the party with Lucius and Halcrem in tow.
"Oh? You know our level?" The old man remarked in a creepy tone. His face was completely filled with wrinkles and even his teeth were rotting as he let out an odd smile. s.h.i.+vering slightly inwardly, Greyson did not like the feeling the old man was giving him at all. However, the fluctuations he felt made him determine the old man was a darkness element magician. Although there was a slim possibility that the old man was a multi-element magician, Greyson decided not to worry about it too much since the probability was so low.
"It"s not too hard to guess. If you were advanced level magicians, there would not be any need for trouble since you all would be defeated instantly. Since I can feel the threat from you and those two others, it means that you must at least be magister level magicians." Looking straight at this old man without any fear, his tone showed no doubt as he exposed his knowledge that there were three magister level magicians. His words sounded arrogant, but they were the complete truth. With his level, including his friends" level, they were more than enough to handle the normal opponents.
"Hahaha, it seems there are at least some smart ones in this caravan. He even has such a good-looking friend. Such stature and muscles... Come let big sister show you a good time. I promise I won"t hurt you too much if you follow me." The muscular woman laughed loudly as the pressure of a fire element magician extended from her. Completely ignoring Greyson, she closely scanned Halcrem"s body while obscenely licking her lips. Halcrem almost puked in disgust as he felt violated by her eyes. Seeing Hal"s reaction, Greyson forgot about the situation for a second and started cracking up. Lucius joined in and was even rolling around on the ground unable to stop his laughter.
"Halcrem, why not entertain the lady? It"s hard to find someone with such heavy taste, you know?" Lucius continued giggling while taking pleasure in Halcrem"s misfortune. With no experience with such things, Halcrem only blushed deeply not knowing what to say. Greyson finally could stop laughing as he also joined in on the fun.
"Why not Hal? Such an attractive woman, she would be good for you!"
"Oh, little boy, don"t fall in love too quickly. Big sister is not into pretty boys like you." Completely unaware that they were making fun of her, the woman looked at Greyson with disdain.
"..." Speechless, Greyson did not know what to say back. Should he be insulted or thankful this woman did not find him attractive?
Just as they were distracted by such a funny event, a cold glint flashed in the scrawny middle-aged man"s eyes. In just a flash, he swooshed in front of Greyson and sliced down with his dagger. However, although Greyson gave the facade of being unprepared, he closely paid attention to the movement of all the enemies. His hand transformed into white scales as he gripped onto the dagger"s blade and stopped the strike completely. The hardness of his scales and his strength could not be underestimated. Only taking a moment, Greyson retaliated with a strong kick with a transformed leg. However, the man already recovered. At first his eyes flashed in surprise, but the man rode the wind quickly back to his original spot.
"Tsk..." Clicking his tongue in disappointment, Greyson realized that he was dealing with experienced people. That man had almost no hesitation after his attack failed to retreat. Looking through the opponents, Greyson realized that the three magisters were dark element, wind element, and fire element magicians. Looking towards the last young man, Greyson was still curious as to what his element would be.
"Lucius, why don"t you take that scrawny middle-aged man who attacked. Halcrem, you take your future missus over there. I will deal with the old man. Both of you try to keep an eye on the other kid, as well. Although he is not strong, he could attack at the moment we are tied up in a difficult position." Greyson quickly divided the opponents up. Some people believe that those who have the same element should not verse each other because it"s too hard to determine the winner, however, he thought that Lucius was faster with his wind and spatial element. Greyson also had a lot of belief in Halcrem"s abilities and the innate abilities of Sun Lions compared to normal human fire magicians. As for himself, he could only take the old man who was left. Greyson also had the dark element and the light element which was the enemy of the dark element. Therefore, he a.s.sumed that he would be able to at least handle the old man until Lucius and Halcrem could help him. At least, that was the best-case scenario, unless these people were all a lot more powerful than he originally believed and one of them was a high stage magister level magician. That could screw everything up and he might have to summon Zephyr to fly away at a moment"s notice to prevent any serious injuries again.
Quickly following Greyson"s lead, Lucius and Halcrem started battle with the two other magisters. Greyson saw their fights begin and then focused all his attention on the old man.
"You think you can be my opponent?" The old man"s cold raspy voice questioned.
"I will not arrogantly believe I can defeat you, but I should be enough to stall you!" Greyson did not dare to underestimate his opponent, but he also would not belittle himself.
The old man just coldly snorted in response, as he removed a circular disk from his inner robe. Tossing it down onto the ground, it spread out until a dark half-sphere spread out around the old man and Greyson. His eyes enveloped into complete darkness, Greyson"s first response was to panic a little. However, as a dark magician as well, he quickly adjusted. Closing his eyes, he felt around for the movement in the darkness. He could feel the elements rustle behind him so he quickly dodged and lashed out with a kick. Making hard contact with the old man"s arm, Greyson widened his eyes in surprise feeling how hard the old man"s bones were. Normal people"s arms would have cracked under such a direct hit not matter if they were magisters or not. The dark element did not have many body strengthening spells like the earth element, so he was expecting the old man to be physically weak. Barely letting out a grunt, the old man quickly retaliated with another dark spell. Greyson could feel the cold, shadow hands wrap around his body. Reacting quickly, Greyson"s body quickly exploded into bright light. The spell restricting him dissipated underneath that light as the old man"s face turned ugly. However, he was not prepared for Greyson"s next move. After the burst of bright light, Greyson slashed down at the old man with a flaming Genesis while switching to the fire element. Although he was slow, the old man slipped into the shadows. Greyson smirked, though, because he could feel that his sword did make a little contact. He could feel his fire still burning into the old man"s skin. It was a nasty spell he learned called Everburn, unless one was a fire element magician, it was hard to put out the fire and keep it from continuing burning you. Only, it seemed the difference in level was too much and the man managed to get the spell under his control and stopped the fire. Slightly disappointed, Greyson did not mind much, though, since he was not expecting the fight to end that easily.
The old man, however, was lamenting his bad luck. How could he run into a magician who so perfectly countered the dark element? Both fire and light element magicians were hard for his spells to work against and he just happened to run into an opponent who could use both. Through this encounter, though, he knew that his opponent was still an advanced level stage five magician which meant he held the advantage no matter what. He was already a magister level stage two magician, if he could not beat such a weak opponent, where would he show his face later?
Greyson pretended to be paying attention to the old man, however, he was actually searching around for the black plate from earlier. He knew that was the trigger for this formation that was allowing the old man to be like fish in water. With shadows and darkness all around, the old man could pop out and faze out in whatever location he wanted. Greyson knew was at a severe disadvantage in this kind of situation. While the old man was still lost in his thoughts of bad luck, Greyson managed to find the disk. Trying hard to hold in his excitement, Greyson quietly prepared to attack it, but only after the old man made his next move. Then, he would strike out and destroy the disk while the old man was still distracted and unprepared for such an attack. His wait was not long after he felt sharp black blades shot out from the ground. Disguising his jump towards the plate, as a dodge away from the attack, Greyson got close enough to swing Genesis down with a strong light element attack.
"NO!" Realizing Greyson"s target too late, the old man shouted out in anger. However, would Greyson really stop? Of course not. Smiling in mockery, he smashed apart the disk as the dark sphere faded to nothing.
"I"ll kill you, you d.a.m.n brat!" Seeing his prized formation plate smashed to pieces, the old man could feel his blood boiling. He spent almost his entire life"s savings on that formation! How did that brat manage to find it? Getting serious, the old man launched two spells at the same time as he threw daggers into a shadow and looked into Greyson"s eyes. Cursing in his mind, Greyson realized that the old man knew a dark element eye spell that kept Greyson tied to his shadow. The daggers sent through the shadows reappeared behind Greyson almost immediately to stab into his back from his own shadow. Trying to stop the daggers, he summoned an earth wall, however, before it formed, his blood reacted. Turning pale, he could feel his bloodlines start to fight again. Oh, no! Not right now! Biting his tongue, Greyson kept himself conscious as he tried his best to dodge. One of the daggers only managed to graze his arm, however, the second one stabbed right into his left thigh.
Not able to spare his attentions to his injuries, Greyson fell to the ground holding his body. His hair and features were constantly changing between the dragon form and his elf form. His mana was not under his control and he could not defend himself as he watched the old man slowly approach him. When Greyson looked up again at the old man, his eyes were a never before seen light grey and his hair turned back to the platinum silver of the elves. Only panic remained in those eyes, no longer containing their earlier calmness. He could not help but feel resentful towards his problems acting up now all of sudden. Glancing around briefly, he could see that Lucius and Halcrem were winning but did not have enough time just yet to beat their opponents. His stomach sinking, Greyson could only watch as the old man approached. Just when he thought the old man was going to attack, he finally heard a new voice shout out in surprise.
"My G.o.ddess?!" Greyson could not pay attention to the voice at this moment, however, as he was still suffering the pain of his bloodlines attacking each other. Not noticing any attacks, he realized the old man was no longer looking at him. Although he was not sure of the reason, he quickly removed Mesmer and began to play his calming song trying to take advantage of the pause in fighting. Under the tune, he could feel his body begin to relax and the inner conflict started to recede. When he opened his eyes, he realized in surprise that the fighting already stopped on all fronts and that same young man he was worried about was now standing in front of him. Greyson could tell that he was trying to protect Greyson, but he had no idea why this stranger would do this for him. Listening to the young man"s voice, Greyson recognized him as the person who shouted out earlier. What was going on? Why did this guy keep shouting about some G.o.ddess?!