Kyran waved his hand before Reuben fell to the ground, disappearing in thin air. Then he made his way toward the center of the camp, where he had sensed the aura of the woman named Freya.
His silver eyes flashed, and his pupils turned into slits as he activated 5% of the Regis Blessing once again.
Several hundred meters away, Freya also employed her fastest speed as she flew in midair at that exact moment. She was on her way back to where she had left Max to deal with the masked man. In her hands were several pills, and she took them one after another.
First, she took two Energy Enhancement Pills that could increase a mage's magic energy reserves to 10%. Since she took two, her magic reserves increased by 20%. Then she popped two Stamina and Energy Replenishing Pills as well to ensure her body and energy were at their full capacity. After that, she took out three red pills and a blue pill.
The red pills were the Red-Demon Pill.
She knew the side effects of taking one pill would make her suffer a huge backlash once its effect wore off and that taking two would double the backlash. Maybe even more. But she knew taking one or two pills was not enough if she wanted to keep up with the masked man.
If she took one pill, her magic level would receive a boost, and she would gain the magic energy comparable to a Magus.
But the masked man was clearly not a Magus. So one pill was not enough.
Freya knew a Magus was not the highest level a mage could attain.
Based on an excavated record, in one of the ruins, the Templar Code had found, the highest recorded mage level was a Sage. However, they had not deciphered it yet as to how many levels it was above a Magus.
But Freya wanted to gamble on the two red pills she would take and see if she could attain that level. If possible, she would add another two on top of the last two. Unfortunately, the Templar Code's Research Department had confirmed that taking more than three pills would cause one's magic reserves to explode, resulting in a mage's instant death.
It made Freya hesitate. As much as she wanted to power up, she would not risk death before a fight began.
Either way, Freya was confident that after taking three red pills, she would be able to keep the masked man busy for a few minutes.
Her target was to hold 'it' down for at least ten minutes.
Because in ten minutes, their Commander would definitely come!
That was right.
The Templar Code's Commander, Tritus, was now on its way to the Shaiha Ruins.
Going back a few minutes ago, after Freya dropped the call she was having with Reuben, she sent a coded message to Tritus.
Freya was the only one who had a communication device that could send messages outside of the Shaiha temple.
After the Quilin reinforced the temple's defensive array, all communication devices could no longer send messages outside the make-shift camp. Instead, they had to leave the camp's vicinity first.
They had already guessed that the temple's defensive array had an array formula that could interfere with communication signals.
But because of the unique materials and array incorporated in Freya's communication device, it was not affected by the change.
For this reason, Freya was able to send a message to their Commander. And after she had sent it, not even half a minute had passed, the Commander had replied.
His reply was: Give me ten minutes.
As soon as Freya read the message, she unhesitatingly took off and went back to where the masked man was.
She no longer possessed exalted relics, but she still had the Red-Demon Pills.
Lastly, she also had the blue pill. This pill was called Sedative Pills. This pill would ensure that after she took the Red-Demon Pill and the effect wore off, she would not feel the pain from the backlash and be able to move for a few minutes.
'I also have that one last trump card,' she thought as she thought of an item in her storage ring.
The item was something she had saved for a life-or-death situation. She could have used it earlier but did not want to be the only one saved.
Freya was the leader of the Elite Team, and she could not very well save her hide and leave her people behind.
"Less than ten minutes," she thought as she finally threw the three Red-Demon Pills in her mouth.
As soon as she swallowed the pills, her eyes turned gold, and her magic energy erupted.
Crackle! Sizzle!
Crackling sounds filled the air as golden lightning swirled around her.
"AAARRGH!"
Freya screamed as her body boiled from the sudden surge of magic energy in her body. The surrounding magic energies also trembled and appeared to be attracted to her as they flew in her direction, instantly covering her with a luster of golden aura.
She stretched out her right arm, and a golden stave appeared in thin air. She grabbed it, and the surging magic energy in her body was also transmitted in the stave.
The golden stave also erupted with a golden aura.
Freya had a total of five golden staves in her storage ring, with four serving as reserves.
Four of them had already been destroyed by the masked man, and this one was the last. And among the five staves, this one was made of rare materials.
The four staves' blades were made of diamond. This one, however, was made of the Quilin's horn! She never used the blades to cut off her opponent. Instead, the stave's blade was mainly where she drew in the magic energies in the surroundings to create a golden vortex of energy to attack her opponents.
With the unique composition of the Quilin's horn, which was to collect a total of four different types of magic energy, then Freya's golden vortex would be able to have at least four elements that would boost its offensive.
The air crackled as Freya flew forward at an incredible speed. She looked like a golden streak of lightning that flew amidst the ground that erupted with silver-white energy now and then.
"AAARGH!"
"NOOOO!"
"LADY FREYA! SAVE US!"
"AAAAHHHH!"
Miserable screams filled the air as Freya closed in on the location of the masked man.
"YOU!" Freya shouted in anger as she heard the screams of her people.
As her voice reverberated in the air, seven-meter-high silver-white energy erupted from a fissure nearby.
The silver-white energy flew up and turned into claws that went after Freya.
"RAA!" Freya growled, and the golden aura surrounding her expanded, forming a sphere of translucent barrier that protected her.
The claws collided with the barrier, resulting in both exploding, sending a shockwave that spread out in all directions.
More of the silver-white energies burst out from the fissured on the ground and formed into claws that attacked Freya relentlessly.
Employing the translucent barrier once more, Freya ignored the claws and proceeded forward.
Each time a claw collided with her barrier and exploded, she would employ more of the barrier before the next claw could attack.
Freya gritted her teeth as soon as she realized how these claw-form silver-white energies appeared to follow her around. It did not take long for her to guess that the masked man was likely nearby and doing this on purpose to reduce her magic reserves.
'You think I did not notice what you're trying to do? Like hell, I'll fall for that!' Freya had thought as she took out a high-grade energy replenishing potion.
She drank it in one gulp and threw the bottle to the ground.
Her energy erupted one more time.
"COME OUT!" She called out to the masked man.
A few hundred meters away, Kyran was indeed getting close to Freya.
He had 'seen' her route with his monstrous magic sense and controlled his Draconic magic to attack her.
Different from Freya's guess, Kyran's reason for attacking her was not to make her waste her magic reserves.
In the first place, he knew the magic reserves were all gathered in the magic core. And though mages might use up their magic reserves, as long as they still call upon the magic energies in the surroundings, they would never be depleted.
Kyran was simply trying to grab hold of Freya to test her speed.
After almost a minute of testing, he now had a better understanding of her speed.
'Her speed has changed,' Kyran thought with narrowed eyes. He also noticed how her magic energy had erupted earlier.
It was similar to how Max's energy erupted after taking the red pills.
'Why did she suddenly decide to come back?' Kyran wondered.
He did not believe Freya planned to return so that she could vent out her anger. She seemed to have taken the same red pills as Max to boost her magic level. It meant she was planning to fight him.
'Or maybe not really fight, but also buy some time?' Kyran pondered sensing Freya's determination from the golden aura she emitted.
'Regardless of her reason, I won't let her get away this time,' he swore, as silver-white energies covered both his arms. They slowly turned into silver translucent human-shaped dragon arms.
Finally, Kyran took a step.
In an instant, he was before Freya.
Freya who had been on guard from the moment she realized the masked man was nearby, abruptly stopped and shouted, "Fólkvangr!"
FOOOM!
A translucent golden sphere erupted from Freya and spread out in all directions, instantly covering the whole 100 meters.
Kyran's eyes widened as he realized what the sphere was.
It was none other than a Magus's Domain.