Advent of the Archmage

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Bloody Tavern

All powerful Magicians worth their salt possessed acute observational skills. Old Blindie was not an exception to this rule.

It was true that he was blind. However, he had a far keener Eye of the Soul than other Magicians.

Link was presently under the guise of a Beastman mercenary. However, he did not give off the wild, savage air of a typical Beastman. His body was much too clean to belong to an actual Beastman.

Unlike the Nagas, Old Blindie was able to instantly see through his disguise.

“I know you’re looking for me. Speak then, stranger. What is it you want from me?” asked the Magician telepathically. His voice had pierced through the tavern’s din like an arrow and struck Link’s eardrums like a gong.

Link had already figured out the Magician’s identity. “He replied telepathically, “Darris, I did not expect to find you here.”

Darris was the traitorous disciple of Magician Bale back in the East Cove Magic Academy. He had studied magic alongside Link in the same Mage Tower. He had tried to commit mass murder back then but was ultimately stopped by Link. He was later sent to Creekwood Village to be tried for his actions. However, somehow he managed to flee before justice could be properly served.

A few Magicians had tried to look for him. The only thing they were able to turn up was the fact that the Dark Elves had helped him escape. No one knew where he had fled off to, or what he had been up to all this time.

Link did not imagine that he would once again see this despicable Magician in the flesh. His appearance had changed drastically. However, appearances no longer mattered to a Magician like Link. He immediately recognized who Old Blindie was by the essence of his soul.

Darris now had Level-9 Dark Power. He had surpassed his master Bale a long time ago.

Darris was taken aback by how easily his identity had been figured out. He had not used that name for a long time. It was his most well-kept secret. The shock of hearing someone utter his name after all this time had struck him like a thunderbolt.

“Who the hell are you?” Darris stood up suddenly. Thick Dark Power began spreading out from him. All light in the tavern was extinguished in an instant. There was now a growing sense of dread in everyone. All of a sudden, a high-pitched scream pierced the darkness, and everyone fled the place like frightened animals.

No one in this backwater city was a match for Level-9 Magician like Darris. His Soul Strike spell affected everyone in the tavern in an instant.

The place had descended into chaos.

Darris had hoped to make his getaway in the pandemonium. He knew that only a few in this world were capable of figuring out his true identity. He also knew that none of them were people to be trifled with.

One of them was an enemy of his from his days in the Magic Academy. Darris might be the king of his kingdom in this dark alleyway with his Level-9 power, but he knew that he was nothing more than an ant in the face of that person.

All of a sudden, he realized that he could not move a muscle.

A pair of cold Beastman eyes glinted menacingly from the tavern’s entrance. A Beastman was staring straight at him. The commotion in the tavern did not affect him one bit. A half-demon tried to push him aside. The Beastman simply cleaved him in two like paper with a swing of his battle-axe.

At that moment, the torrent of bodies surged against of the Beastman’s body, only to be ground into an unrecognizable paste of flesh and bone in his wake.

Darris gulped. He knew that he was not a match for the Beastman.

He was no longer the same person he was before in the Magic Academy. He had come across masters more powerful than him during his years on the run. Long humbled by his encounters, his only purpose in life now was to live as long as he could.

Realizing that there was no way he would be able to defeat the Beastman, Darris immediately stopped struggling. The Beastman had chosen to restrain him instead of killing him on the spot. This meant that he must still be of some use to him.

“Stand beside me, don’t move!” Link strode over, seized Darris’s shoulder and pulled him to a dark corner in the tavern. Both of them instantly vanished into the shadows.

Link had activated his Concealment spell. They were still inside the tavern. However, they no longer needed to worry about being noticed or eavesdropped by anyone.

Link threw his axe on the ground in the middle of the tavern. Everyone in the building was too busy fleeing for their lives to pay Link, Darris or the 200-pound battle axe on the ground any mind.

In the darkness, Link continued telepathically speaking to Darris, “You’re being targeted by a group of Nagas. I want to know why.”

Darris was unable to make any sense of the Concealment spell that Link had activated. He knew then that the Beastman’s power was far superior to his own. When he heard what Link said, he frowned. “Are you talking about the priests of the God of Destruction in the Black Forest? I don’t think I’ve done anything to upset any of them.”

“Try to remember,” said Link. Those Nagas would definitely not have set their sights on Darris for no reason.

Darris then asked, “You know who I am. But I don’t recall ever knowing any Beastman. Who the hell are you? How did you know my true identity?”

“I’m Link,” said Link, confident that Darris would not be able to use his identity against him even if he wanted to.

Upon hearing the name, Darris’s body began trembling violently. He still remembered the time he was defeated by Link back in Girvent Forest. He had thought about exacting his revenge upon him, but Link had surpassed his power at such an incredible speed. His legendary exploits had spread far and wide across the continent. Even the little Beastman children knew that somewhere in the Far East lay a prosperous human city presided over by a powerful human lord.

He had completely given up vengeance three years ago. He only hoped that Link had forgotten about his existence. Darris had endeavored to stay out of trouble and kept to himself as much as possible in order to make sure that his name remained in oblivion.

He never thought that Link would still be able to recognize after all this time.

At that moment, a sense of hopelessness had filled Darris.

“I…” He was about to say something, only to be interrupted by Link.

“Answer me!”

“I really don’t know.” Darris shrugged helplessly. He had no reason to lie to the all-powerful Lord of Ferde. For the last two years, he had remained in the Golden Plains. He had never come into contact with any of the Nagas in the Black Forest. Suddenly, Darris’s eyes lit up.

“Wait,” he said. He immediately sank into deep thought as if he had just recalled something.

Link patiently waited for an answer from him.

A few minutes later, Darris spoke, “This may have something to do with someone I came across a month ago. He looked young, maybe fifteen to sixteen years old, but I could tell that he was even more powerful than me. I didn’t have a chance to speak to him, but he left behind a valuable spellcasting gemstone like it was something that could be found anywhere. The gemstone was then picked up by a vampire. Only recently did it end up in my possession.”

Darris pulled out a blue-white spellcasting gemstone from his spatial ring. The gemstone seemed capable of storing high volumes of magical power. Any Magician would have been impressed by what they saw.

Link frowned at the gemstone. “Something’s wrong with it. There’s a soul magic seal on it. It’s giving off strange magical fluctuations… Strange, they remind me of someone.”

Link was soon lost in his own thoughts. Ignoring Darris’s bewildered look, Link began closely observing the blue-white gemstone in his hand. His eyes now gleamed with a gentle light, which seemed rather incongruous with the rest of his Beastman features.

Just then, a voice rang out from outside the Bloody Tavern. “In here. There’s a lot of blood on the ground. Must have been quite a bloodbath.”

The Nagas had caught up to them!