Jared's pupils turned into slits, and his dark gray eyes turned silver as he activated the Regis Blessing. The effect of the dragon blood in his veins was relatively average compared to Cade. However, just as he said a while ago, placing him in the same league as Cade was wrong since that guy was a monster.
Of course, the monster bit was meant as a compliment, not an insult.
In any case, Jared was a Regis; apart from that, he was an Array Saint. With the help of the Regis Blessing and his Array knowledge, he could hold his own against an Archmagus.
Rantz's eyes narrowed when he recognized the person that exited the gates.
Jared Regis.
Information about him immediately flashed through Rantz's mind.
'Second son of Aron Regis... Studied Alchemy, whose innate magic is Earth. Also an Elementor, like his father,' Rantz listed an overview of the information he read about Jared. 'No official combat record. Thus, his abilities are undetermined.'
Thinking all of this made Rantz frown slightly. He was an Elementor, himself, with Fire innate magic. Although he had the advantage of mage level, Earth and Fire was not a good matchup. In an ancient magic theory, fire created the earth. If this was the case, would he not amplify Jared's magic?
In the end, Rantz could only sigh as he landed on the ground. Seeing Jared had already activated the infamous Regis Blessing from how the latter's eyes glowed silver, Rantz had no choice but to carry out his task:
Destroy the attack arrays and dispose of anyone who would dare interfere.
"Do not blame me for being rude," Rantz muttered as he stepped forward. "I am only carrying out orders."
The moment he did, the space where his feet landed crackled, and the magic energy surrounding him fluctuated.
Still, a hundred meters away, Jared heard Rantz even though he did not speak loudly.
"What do you know? We're on the same page," Jared replied with a wry smile.
Before Rantz could react, Jared had already moved.
In a blink of an eye, he managed to traverse the hundred or so meters between them. Then he pulled back his right arm, and at the same time, several different-sized light brown magic arrays circled his arm.
Concentrated Earth magic energy wrapped Jared's forearm, taking on the form of a dragon's forelegs with talons.
BAM!
Jared's punch hit the ground, instantly destroying it and creating a three-meter-wide crater.
"Argh...!" Rantz, who barely escaped Jared's sudden attack, landed at least twenty meters away, holding his broken left arm with his right.
Initially, Rantz wanted to endure Jared's punch, showing him the difference between their offensive and defense. However, in the last few seconds, he sensed an impending tragedy and raised his left arm to block Jared's punch instead.
Because of his split-second decision, Rantz managed to avoid receiving a fatal body wound and only received a broken arm. Nevertheless, he was surprised at how potent Jared's punch was, especially when he was not even a combat mage!
Or was he?
Before Rantz could consider this possibility, Jared had already arrived at his location and was about to unleash another attack.
This time, Jared's legs appeared to have turned into a dragon's clawed hind leg, which hurtled down on Rantz.
BOOM!
"Errgh..!" Rantz gritted his teeth as he once more evaded Jared's attack by a hair's breadth by rolling on the side.
The ground where he had just been was also reduced into a three-meter crater.
"YOU! Aren't you an Elementor?" Rantz could not help but shout accusingly at Jared. "Why are you fighting like a combat mage!"
Jared, who had just landed on the ground, was somewhat stunned by Rantz's question.
He initially wanted to reply: "Does being an Elementor mean you can't be a combat mage?"
However, what came out of his mouth was an entirely different response.
"What about you? Are you really an Archmagus? Why don't you fight back?"
Jared's biting words annoyed Rantz. But the latter kept his face straight with only his brow twitching once.
Without waiting for Rantz to reply to his question, Jared moved again.
Meanwhile, the Grand Masters on standby from a distance from Rantz wore a complicated expression.
This would be their first time seeing a Regis combat mage in action, and they found Jared's punches to be ridiculously powerful.
Was this the infamous Regis Blessing? With the help of such a blessing, could a Regis fight on par with an Archmagus?
Just as they were thinking this, the leaders of the noble families snapped out of their inner thoughts as they realized something.
Why the hell were they only watching the two fight? Wouldn't this be the perfect time for them to target the range attack arrays?
Since the attack arrays stopped attacking, they had to use this moment to attack!
Seemingly in one mind, all of the leading Grand Masters moved. They roused their magic and aimed at the hovering attack arrays at once.
Soon, Rantz's side resumed their attack, aiming at the now-silent attack arrays.
Seeing this, the Regis members inside the estate frowned. They did not frown because they were worried about the array's safety now that Jared was occupied with Rantz. Their frown was directed at the enemy Grand Masters's actions.
They knew that in a war, the side that took the initiative had a higher chance of dictating the course of the battle. However, to the Regis members, these Grand Masters were only taking advantage of the situation and taking this chance to 'assist' Rantz.
That was right. In actuality, the Grand Masters were targeting not only the attack arrays but also Jared!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions resounded from the enemy side's rear.
"What?"
The Grand Masters were flabbergasted and, at the same time, confused at what was happening. Their attacks had yet to land, but explosions could already be heard.
In the meantime, Rantz's expression turned solemn when the explosions resounded.
He jumped back, evading Jared's punch again. Then said, "So you've had your people infiltrate our rear from the start."
Jared only smiled in response and delivered another overhead kick.
"Humph."
This time, Rantz did not passively evade Jared's attack. He roused his magic, and before Jared's kick landed, Rantz's body exploded with blue flames.
Jared's eyes widened in surprise upon seeing the blue flames. He jumped back a few meters before the blue flames could touch him.
"Your flames!"
Rantz, now clad in blue flames, looked at Jared, "Surprised? For the record, my blue flames is—."
"How were you able to get a Flaming Blue Clematis?"
Rantz's eyes widened upon hearing Jared's query. His surprise was not because of the latter's seemingly unrelated question. It was the opposite. Because the reason Rantz's flames had turned blue was because of the Flaming Blue Clematis, which he received as a reward when he was in the tower.
As far as Rantz was concerned, no one should have known his flames had mutated after receiving the Flaming Blue Clematis's characteristics. After all, the latter was not found in the Human plane!
"You...!" Rantz narrowed his eyes as realization dawned on him.
"You've been to that place."
"You too... But why?"
Jared was shocked by this discovery. If Rantz had been to the Tower of Tribulations, he was not really a 'bad' guy. Then, why was he working under the Royal Family?
No. It was not like every member of the Royal Family was evil.
Because of Emperor Euan and even Empress Iulia, Jared and the others were already aware of that.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The two were interrupted by another series of explosions.
This time, it came from the Grand Masters attacking Jared's attack arrays. Since the attack arrays were unmoving, the joint magic attacks from Rantz's side successfully hit them.
Before the Grand Masters could rejoice and continue their bombardment. However, powerful, concentrated magic energy beams struck out from the cloud of smoke— which resulted from the explosions— and went directly at the forefronts.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The energy beams obviously came from the attack arrays! Apparently, the Grand Masters' joint attack had done nothing to them!
Rantz had always been reluctant to participate in this battle. Now, after discovering Jared had also been to the Tower of Tribulations, he was even more reluctant to make a move.
Jared was also the same. He was prepared to go all out and even kill Rantz if worse came to worse. But now that he knew the latter had been to the Tower and had been judged to be a righteous person, then maybe... just maybe, they could avoid further bloodshed.
Ultimately, Jared could not decide because, at that moment, the sky crackled, and magic fluctuations erupted from a certain location, deep inside the Regis Estate.
Since he had been there before, Jared recognized immediately that the magic fluctuations emitted a certain magic energy unique inside the Regis Terram!
All four groups surrounding the Regis Estate also sensed the magic fluctuation and suddenly felt weak in the knees.
The magic energy that came with the fluctuations possessed such an oppressive power that made all of them tremble with fear.
They immediately roused their magic defenses and tried to fight the oppressive power.
"W-What is that!"
Someone suddenly shouted, drawing the attention of the people around.
"A-Above! In the sky! T-There is an eye!"
They all turned to the sky, and their scalps went numb from what they saw.
Where dark clouds formed in the sky, an eye peered down on them.
An eye of a dragon.