"Now, what were you saying?" asked Darius.
Silence.
Everyone was utterly speechless. No one thought the boy who didn't look over twenty years would be so daring. What baffled them even more was that he seemed very relaxed, as if he was expecting their arrival. Or maybe he didn't care about them at all.
"Who are you?" asked the old man. He was holding a stick to support himself, eyes hidden behind the wrinkles, loose skin on either side of his face. His head was clean, not a single strand of hair could be seen at the top. However, Darius eyed this half-dead looking guy intently. After all, he was the leader of this group. "Who sent you?"
"Who am I? None of your fucking business."
"How dare you—"
The people behind the old man became furious, but the old man waved his hand, silencing them.
"As for who sent me?" Darius continued. "I am the man of my own will."
"Do you know the consequences of your foolish actions?" said the old man.
"How would we know who is foolish until we try?" Darius shrugged his shoulders. "Do you wanna try?"
"You are pretty arrogant, boy."
"I know. What can you do about it?"
"..."
Even Kadyn was completely speechless by his father's arrogant and shameless attitude. He turned towards his mother, who was giggling all this time, and sighed. What had happened to his parents? Had they lost their minds, after getting power. Had they gone towards the darkside?
Sylvia spotted his expression and said, "There is a very fine line between arrogance and confidence. What you did was arrogance; what your father's doing is confidence."
Kadyn turned red, but he didn't know what to say. After all, his mother was correct. He was indeed being arrogant. Now, when he recalled what he did this time, he felt foolish. Elora almost lost her life.
"Yuxir," said the old man, "go check if this youngster has the right to be so arrogant."
"No, no," Dairus said. "I am just being confident, not arrogant. If we talk about arrogance, old man, it is you who is trying to do something beyond your abilities. Don't twist your waist in anger. Might not be able to join your bones again."
"Die!" a man—Yuxin—dashed towards Darius. He was thin, to the degree, looking almost like a mummy. However, at this moment, he transformed into a giant. Long fangs protruded from the corner of his mouth, sharp and vicious looking. His eyes turned crimson red, and hair started to grow all over his body.
"Dark Shapeshifter…" Kadyn muttered. Similar to the Dark Summoner who summoned evil creatures and needed to sacrifice humans to make progress, Dark Shapeshifters also needed human sacrifice. Furthermore, people would become almost like savage creatures in this transformed state, and if they completely lost control, they would become nothing but a killing machine. Losing themselves in the bloodlust.
Though Kadyn didn't find it shocking. After all, it was Death Valley. One of the most feared places on Pengolla. The place where all kinds of evil reside.
Kadyn looked at the dashing gigantic beast whose hands had transformed into two sharp claws. However, when he turned towards his father, there was still a relaxed smile on his face. 'And mom said I was being arrogant,' he thought.
Nonetheless, there was some worry as well in his heart. He was still skeptical about his father's strength. He wondered if he would be able to defeat his adversary. After all, he was going to clash against rank 6 mage.
However, at this moment, Darius waved his hand—claw—towards the enemy who was just a few meters away from him. To Kadyn's shock, the claw started to enlarge and become a few meters long, and then Darius slammed on the creature.
"Boom!"
Then it was silent again. When Darius retracted his hand, people gasped in horror, Kadyn included. The creature that the man had transformed into had completely disfigured. Flat like a paper. It looked as if a truck had crossed over a cat. Nonetheless, blood painted the floor red, metallic smell permeated the surrounding.
People of Death Valley were also shocked, the old man looked at the minced-meat on the ground with wide eyes and then a shriek escaped his toothless mouth. "Kill him!!"
So the remaining eight people attacked together. Darius curled his lip disdainfully. They were indeed dark mages. Even their honor and pride had faded in that darkness.
He waved his hand and sent Elora towards Sylvia. "Take care of them," he said.
Sylvia nodded. Still looking nonchalant, as if everything was under control.
One of the men summoned a spirit that had half of its tongue out of its mouth. It had ragged hair, sharp fingernails, and its lower body was invisible. Another man summoned a huge skeleton. Many times bigger than the Lich King Darius had crushed just now. One of the men transformed into a dog… all of them dashing towards a single man.
'Fuck, I am nothing compare to dad,' Kadyn thought.
"Boom!"
Darius didn't move from his position, and again waved his claw towards his enemies. Enlarging again, bigger than before, the man who had turned into a dog was smashed into minced-meat like his companion. The body burst like a watermelon and blood filled the air like a mist.
Kadyn watched his father, taking care of all those super mages like it was nothing, with mouth agape. He never realized how cool his father really was. He always thought himself as the protagonist of this world, but now, it might be his father instead.
As the spirit with its half tongue out neared Darius, the man curled his lips and cyan light discharged from his claw. Before anyone could understand what was happening, mysterious cyan threads extended from his claw and restrained the spirit. "A lowly spirit dare to attack me, a World Snatcher!?"
And spirit shrieked before it was sucked into his claw. His enemies tumbled back and looked at him in sheer terror.. How could someone be this powerful? Even peak rank 6 mage would struggle against their combined attack.