Chapter 323 - V4 (7)

A horse carriage drove Noe Clerico from Glomer city and dropped him at his home in a small village in the jurisdiction of Litmeden city. Noe was scolded by his parents then they grounded him at home so he can have time to reflect on his mistakes to make sure things like murdering another classmate will never happen again. Naen then left to work at the farm the next morning while Noe continued being grounded at home and being yelled at by Darla. Darla was very mad at Noe, but she still wanted to cook him some good dinner. That was why she told Noe to stay at home and she left, headed to the village market to buy some meat.

Noe knew his parents scolded him because they loved him too much and worried he would lose a great future if he makes the same mistake again. Noe stayed at home and continuously blamed himself for worrying his parents. Noe told himself that he would never make another mistake at the Mages' Academy to avoid upsetting his parents ever again. Things were supposed to be peaceful but suddenly an army of over two thousand demons led by a level 40 Legend-tier Black Mage attacked the village market. A magic caster that dares to attack ordinary humans without the Mages Council’s approval meant that the magic caster had gone rogue. Even during the time of war, a mage that works for a nation can cast magic spells toward an army or another mage of another nation. But that mage had no permission to cast magic spells toward any ordinary civilians or he/she would be banished from the Mages Council and get hunted by powerful Executioners.

“Mother! Mother!” Noe desperately shouted out loud while sprinting toward the market looking for his mother. Noe saw many people along the way were running out of the market, but his mother was not seen among them.

Surrounding Noe was a Phantom Knight and twenty Skeleton Warriors that he had conjured to protect him. Noe encountered many demons along the way but they were no match against the Phantom Knight that he had conjured. Several Skeletons Noe conjured were killed but he simply conjured them back to continue helping him searching for his mother.

“Help! Please help! Noe! Noe Clerico!” A loud voice called out Noe’s name and he turned around to see who it was. Noe saw an old man that was struggling to escape from a group of fourteen demons. Noe immediately recognized the old man as the Village Elder and waved his left hand, allowing his twenty Skeleton Warriors to protect the old man.

“Village Elder, do you know where my mother is?” Noe asked the Village Elder while his Skeletons were still fighting against the demons. The Phantom Knight continued staying close to Noe, ready to protect him from any danger.

“Darla? She told me that she went back to your house to rescue you. Didn't you see her on the way here?” The Village Elder answered then asked Noe back using a surprised manner.

“No, sir. I haven't seen her. I saw large smoke coming from the market and rushed over here to check on my mother. Village Elder, why are these demons attacking our village?”

“There is no time for this. Noe, you need to go find your mother.” The Village Elder placed his left hand on Noe’s left shoulder as he said this.

“You’re right, I will leave ten of my Skeletons Warriors to escort you out of here. If you see my mother on the outside-”

A dagger suddenly came out of the Village Elder’s right sleeve and he aimed it directly toward Noe’s throat. Noe didn’t have any training in warrior arts at the time and such an attack at close range would have taken his life if it wasn’t for the Phantom Knight who has been observing the body language of the Village Elder. Isn’t the Village Elder supposed to be old and weak? Why was his hand full of energy when he placed it on Noe’s left shoulder just now? That was when the Phantom Knight prepared to act and he managed to stop the Village Elder from assassinating Noe.

Dodging a sword slash from the Phantom Knight, the Village Elder jumped and rolled back several times before standing up again to look at Noe and the Phantom Knight.

“Who are you...?” Noe angrily asked as he realized that wasn’t the real Village Elder.

The man then disabled his [Shapeshifting] spell to reveal his true self as a magic caster wearing a black hooded robe. The man has chosen to not answer Noe’s question but immediately casted the [Force Punch] spell toward him. The Phantom Knight was well prepared and immediately got in front of Noe to use his greatsword sword to block the [Force Punch] spell from hitting Noe. The Phantom Knight was brave, but it wasn’t strong enough to survive such a powerful attack and was killed in an instant. The remaining force of the [Force Punch] then blew Noe away for at least twenty feet. Noe was injured but got up immediately, meaning he didn’t receive any major injuries. Noe knew even if he wasted mana to conjure a Fire Demon, his Fire Demon wouldn’t be able to fight back against the unknown Black Mage that clearly wanted to kill him. Noe activated the [Soul Bridge] technique to open a portal for his Soul-bound Creature, Gazhorn, to dash through from Hell Realm into Toria Continents to assist him.

The man casted another [Force Punch] spell but it was easily destroyed by a sword swing performed by Gazhorn. The man’s eyes opened wide when he couldn't believe how a twelve years old boy in front of him managed to have such a powerful creature bound his Conjurer Soul at such a young age. The man casted [Summon Demon Lord] spell and an avatar of Aarna, Demon Lord of the Ninth Gate was summoned. Even when Aarna’s true power couldn’t be unleashed due to the Black Mage that summoned her has only reached level 40, but that wouldn’t stop her from defeating Gazhorn as long as the Black Mage has enough mana to maintain her presence.

Noe didn’t care to find out why the Black Mage was going after him. His only intention at that time was to find his mother and escort her to safety. His father was working at the farm and there was no sign of smoke coming from that direction which meant he had no reason to worry about his father. Noe was about to tell Gazhorn to try his best to hold back both Aarna and the Black Mage while he looked for his mother. But Noe then quickly realized that would put his mother in a more dangerous position since the Black Mage seemed to target him only.

Noe didn’t understand why the Black Mage just wouldn’t just come to his house and kill him instead of wasting a lot of time summoning an army of demons to create chaos in the market. Regardless, Noe decided not to find his mother and stayed to fight against the Black Mage who wanted him dead. Gazhorn was much stronger compared to other regular demons and he managed to fight back against the Black Mage and Aarna at the same time. Even though it was only for four minutes, Gazhorn did a great job of draining the Black Mage’s mana pool by dragging the fight as long as he could. Before Gazhorn was killed, he activated [Mana Infusion] then casted [Hell Fiend] spell to summon a small blue color flaming demon that possesses a hundred percent of Gazhorn's mana pool and could cast Fire Magic spells up to level 35 just like Gazhorn. Even though the Hell Fiend couldn't be controlled by Noe or even Gazhorn if he was still alive, it acknowledged Gazhorn's intention then casted [Flame Wall] spell around Noe and itself to protect them against Aarna and the Black Mage.

Both the Black Mage and Aarna teamed up again to defeat the Hell Fiend and it took them nearly four minutes to do so. The Black Mage immediately banished the avatar of Aarna to prevent his mana pool from reaching depletion after the Hell Fiend was killed. Killing Noe was important, but having a depleted mana pool means death for a Rogue Mage like him if he encounters any patrol guards from Litmeden. Burning the market surely caught the attention of nearby patrol guards to come to check it out. The Black Mage wanted to reserve some mana left to use [Shapeshifting] spell so he can put on a disguise and leave this area without causing any more chaos. The reason why he caused chaos at the market instead of killing Noe at his house was that he didn't want to reveal his intention of killing only Noe to assure nothing can be traced back to his clients.. The Black Mage angrily blamed himself for underestimating Noe and repeatedly reminded himself to ask for more gold coins after meeting with his clients again upon completing the quest.