Chapter 9: Ambush

Dior used multiple speed spells as he rushed at the coordinates shown by the mini magic detector. He noticed a slight change in the coordinates from the first time it appeared. Aside from that, he was forced to activate the array earlier because the boy's magic signature was too weak for it to react.

"It was as if he was about to use his magic, but then he stopped," he said under his breath.

It made him wonder whether the boy knew what the array could do.

Dior shook his head. "Impossible."

If the boy knew, he would not have stopped midway in using his magic. Not unless someone told him to stop.

'Is he with someone?' Dior's eyes narrowed.

The magic detector had not detected another magic signature. So, the possibility of another person with the boy was close to nil.

'But not entirely impossible,' he thought.

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

Kyran fell to his knee as soon as the attack from the four-colored ruin disappeared into the void. He was breathing heavily, and beads of sweat trickle down the side of his face.

The amount of magic from the attack unexpectedly was too enormous for Kyran.

If it were not for the cloaked man's actions earlier, he would not try this move.

Kyran's initial plan was to warp outside the array's range and flee. But then the cloaked man summoned those black mist as if to defend against the attack, and Kyran was included in his activation range.

'Did he want to protect me?' was the first thought that came to Kyran. Because of this, he abandoned his initial plan to flee and wondered if he could counter the array's attack using the void.

Somehow, he knew he could do it. And he did. Except he did not know that he would be exhausted after just one attack.

"You. What the hell did you do? What magic was that?" The cloaked man asked Kyran one after another.

Kyran turned to look at him, still breathing heavily.

Before he could say anything, a voice magnified by a sound spell boomed.

"Kyran Regis! Last night you managed to escape, but not this time. Surrender to the army!"

Kyran frowned, 'Last night? But….'

Didn't he escape from them a few hours ago?

Then it hit him. When he took the potion, he fell unconscious for a whole day! No wonder the army was able to catch up to him.

'Regis? Army? Did he mean the Royal Army?' The cloaked man frowned and stared at Kyran.

He was not an idiot. The moment he saw the array, he thought of four possibilities why it would appear here and for what reasons.

First, his enemies might have found him and planned this ambush. Naturally, this was the least possible reason because he was confident in concealing his tracks.

Second, the people who arranged this array were mercenaries after the One Million High-Grade Spirit Stone target. They might have found him, but he resisted. Now both he and the kid got tangled with their confrontation.

The cloaked man dismissed this possibility because one of the job's requirements was to capture the target alive.

This setup was clearly overkill.

Third, this could be a war between two big families.

At first, the cloaked man thought this was the most likely reason.

And last, the kid he met was a fugitive, and the people who were after him got wind of his location, and now, they had caught up.

Now, this was second only to the cloaked man's most likely reason. However, his intuition told him this was closest to the truth from the words shouted just now.

Did he get involved in the situation between the Regis clan and the Royal Army?

Kyran gritted his teeth.

While the cloaked man seemed friendly, though he was strange and had a vulgar tongue, Kyran knew what might happen if he revealed his magic. Not everyone was like his clan, who would willingly endanger themselves for his sake.

Moreover, the unknown factor of not knowing what happened during a whole day frightened him.

With a deep breath, Kyran steeled himself and stood up.

Turning his back to the cloaked man, he said, "You might not need my gratitude, but l am grateful to you for saving me. With this, we're even."

Without waiting for a reply, Kyran jumped up toward a nearby tree and left.

"Oi!" the cloaked man shouted.

'That damn brat! What even? You f*cking did this on your own. I did not ask for it!' He cursed.

Still, he somehow knew the kid did not want to implicate him if those guys from the army saw them together. So, he just took off while making sure to annoy him.

'You could pretend to have no idea what was happening here, but you just had to admit to everything by doing this. Such an idiotic kid.'

The cloaked man balled his fist. He remembered the words the person who shouted had said. His eyes glinted.

He hesitated only for a second before he turned and left opposite Kyran.

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

Kyran took a small bottle of light pink liquid out of his space pouch. He opened it and drank all its content before stuffing it back inside.

Immediately, his body was rejuvenated.

What he took was a low-grade stamina potion. He did not need to be cautious when drinking this potion because he was pretty familiar with it. He drank loads of this potion when he participated in a training camp at the military school.

He looked up and saw the arrays overhead. His brows furrowed.

'The strange uncle said this array will target any magic used outside its calculation. Does that mean the other side cannot use their magic as well? Or is the use of their magic part of its calculation? Damn it. I don't know how magic array works.'

He jumped down a tree and continued to run ahead. But a whistling sound rushed past his ear, followed by a searing pain when a sharp object hit the back of his right shoulder.

Kyran winced and immediately rolled to the side and hid behind a tree.

He saw four more arrows glinted through the night as they hit the ground where he was earlier.

'Damn it,' Kyran cursed as he took out the arrow that hit him.

He felt a burning sensation spread from his shoulder to his arm.

'The arrow's poisoned!' He realized.

Taking out another small bottle of light green liquid, he immediately drank it and stuffed the bottle back into the pouch.

It was a good thing he checked his items earlier. He also arranged them to make it easy for him to take items out when he needed them.

A rustling sound came from opposite to where he was hiding.

Steeling himself, Kyran stood up as quietly as possible and went the other way.

Because of this attack, he was at least 90% certain that the other side could not use their magic as well.

'Well, if it's just physical combat, then I'd be more than happy to entertain these guys,' Kyran thought resolutely.

Right now, he was itching for a good fight.

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

Dior slammed his fist on a nearby tree.

Once again, he had lost the boy's tracks.

When he arrived at the location, the boy had already left. He already expected it, but since the boy left in a hurry, Dior thought he would leave some obvious tracks.

'The boy sure is capable. A military school student... It seems they are training their students too well,' he thought.

"You can try to hide! But within this array, you cannot escape!" Dior shouted once more, magnifying his voice with a sound spell.

"You sure like to use sound spells when talking to yourself. Is this your fetish?" A deep voice spoke from behind.

Dior's danger alarms went off. He instantly cast his magic arrays, summoned his flames as he turned, and attacked the owner of the voice behind him.

The flames struck the trees, and the area instantly caught fire.

"Fire mage, huh. And with a fiery temper. Too bad you're male. I don't mind a female fiery-tempered fire mage." The voice spoke again.

"Show your damn self!" Dior roared. Two huge flames appeared from both his hands.

"No way. I can annoy you just by doing this. Why should I show up and endanger myself?"

"You!" Dior urged his magic.

A huge red magic array appeared beneath him. Flames erupted from him, incinerating everything within 10 meters around.

"Since you can use your magic without rousing the four-colored ruin array, it means you are the one who can control it."

Dior's eyes narrowed, "You're also a mage."

"Hahaha! What else would I be if not a mage?"

"You are not our target, so I'll forgive you for being disrespectful. Leave this place at once."

The voice did not respond.

The crackling of the fire was the only sound resonating around Dior.

When he thought the disrespectful man had left, Dior lowered his hands and undid his magic.

"Humph," he sneered.

He turned around.

"On second thought, I'd rather continue being disrespectful. Uwa, such a mouthful to say. Just use rude, yeah?"

Black fog engulfed the whole area.

Dior's eyes grew wide, "How?"

"You know the flaw of this Four-colored Array? It will only react when it detects magic. But what happens if you can 'hide' your magic?"

"You!"

Fog-like shadow enveloped Dior, and the ground he was standing on turned black. He immediately summoned his magic, but.

"Iron Maiden!"

Black spikes appeared from the ground piercing Dior's body.

"Argh!" he screamed.