Advent of the Archmage

In the woods

Eliard, Skinorse, and Irvan hid behind a 15-foot-tall boulder. Eliard cast a water mirror and carefully watched the camp on the other side.

This temporary camp was set in a cave. Through the water mirror, they could see that there were some bedrolls and wooden buckets inside. There were three people, all 20-something youths. One of them seemed injured and was resting in a corner. Another sat on a rock and smoked while keeping guard. The last focused on whittling an arrow. He looked like an archer.

"Judging from the bedrolls and buckets, there should be around 30 robbers," Skinorse said. "The others probably went out. We can take advantage of this and capture them for interrogation."

Irvan had already pulled his arrows out. "Then let’s hurry up. I’ll kill one and leave the other two for questioning."

Eliard nodded. "Okay... wait, something feels wrong."

His wand was already out and glowing, but he suddenly motioned for them to stop. He canceled the water mirror and pressed against the stone without moving. This scared Skinorse and Irvan. The two went into defensive poses.

"What’s wrong?"

"What happened?"

Eliard’s eyes were fearful. "I don’t know," he whispered. "But I feel depressed. My heart feels heavy, like something frightening will happen soon."

"Maybe you’re overthinking." Irvan looked around but didn’t see anything. The woods looked normal; there was nothing strange.

This showed that he was inexperienced. He hadn’t cooperated with such powerful Magicians before and thought Eliard was just getting paranoid and scaring himself.

Skinorse didn’t think this though. He knew that Magicians had great predictions. Morrigan was only at Level-5, but he often used his gut to lead Skinorse and Moya through the relics, helping them avoid much danger.

Eliard’s power was practically equal to him. Such a powerful Magician wouldn’t feel this depression for no reason. There must be something horrible coming.

"No need to explain," he said decisively. "Drop the mission and retreat!"

He turned to leave.

Unexpectedly, Eliard grabbed him. "Don’t."

"What?" Skinorse was confused now. "Since it’s dangerous, we can come back some other time. I didn’t say to completely give up."

Eliard shook his head, smiling wryly. "It’s not that simple. I don’t think we can leave now."

"Someone’s watching us?" Skinorse was shocked. "Can you sense him?"

"He must be nearby, watching us, but I can’t sense where he is exactly. He’s more powerful than me." Eliard had already taken out the runestone Link gave him. He decided that as soon as something went wrong, he would run and contact Link. Things were out of his control now.

Skinorse immediately curled up and swore. "F*ck, if he’s more powerful than you, then he’s Legendary, isn’t he? What the f*ck. How come all the powerful guys are running around? How are people supposed to live?"

Eliard shook his head. "No, there actually aren’t that many Legendary figures. There are more than one billion people in the world, but less than 20 people are over Level-10. We probably run into them because of Link."

Link had entered the Legendary level so his enemies would send someone at or above that level. Otherwise, it would be useless. However, they were only a few bigger ants between these two powerful figures.

Hearing this, Irvan grew anxious. "Hey, honestly, stop talking and think about what we should do now."

Eliard and Skinorse exchanged glances; both of their eyes were helpless. They shook their heads.

"I have no solutions. We can use the runestone to ask for help, but I think that we’ll be dead before Link can get here." Eliard shrugged and smiled bitterly. The repressive feeling was getting worse. He had never felt something so strong before. The runestone could only notify Link but most likely couldn’t save them.

"I guess we’ll have to compete with patience. The enemy is watching us but hasn’t done anything yet. He must have a plan. We’ll just wait and see what he has planned." Skinorse decided to lean against the boulder and pulled a pipe out of his spatial ring. He knocked it against the boulder, cleared the ashes, and started adding tobacco.

His attitude was: I’m not your match so just do whatever you want.

Irvan hadn’t given up though. He wasn’t like Eliard and Skinorse. He’d heard about Legendary figures but had never experienced their strength. To him, they were just people but stronger. It wasn’t like they could be immortal. If they fought to the death, they might still have a chance.

Thinking of that, he prepared his bow and looked side to side. His expression was serious and cautious; he was ready to put his all in.

Seeing him like this, Skinorse breathed in and exhaled a ring of smoke. "Irvan, do you have a pet?" he asked.

Irvan shook his head. "Who has time to do that?"

"Then do you have kids?" Skinorse continued.

"My wife was killed when she was pregnant." Irvan shook his head with a bitter expression.

Skinorse patted his shoulder and sighed. "If you’ve raised them before, you’d know that to a Legendary figure, you’re just like his pet or son. If he wants to hit you, you take it. Don’t think about fighting back. Here, copy me and have a smoke. Enjoy your last moments alive."

He passed the pipe over.

Irvan felt hopeless.

At this time, Eliard suddenly said, "Shh, don’t say anything. Someone’s coming."

The two mercenaries instantly sobered. At times like this, any change was a chance. They might have an opportunity. After all, they didn’t want to die. Any shred of hope should be taken.

Eliard stopped using magic. He just sprawled on the boulder; Skinorse and Irvan did the same.

After a while, they saw a Magician with a dark green robe and hood appear by the cave. Judging by the figure, it was a woman. She was quite tall—almost six feet. Though she was covered in the long robe, she still had a great body.

To Eliard, the most eye-catching part about her was her wand. It was silver with three green crystals. Two small pieces orbited around the big one. The aura was as deep as the sea. Just a glance shocked him, making his heart pound and almost leap out of his throat.

Skinorse involuntarily looked again and praised, "Tsk, such great figure, great hips, great ass, great boobs, nice height too. And that hair looks good. I’ve never seen that color before. If she comes with me, I’ll even be okay if she isn’t that pretty."

Eliard was speechless. He grabbed the man over. "Do you want to die? I’m pretty sure she’s the Legendary figure who was spying on us!"

Skinorse instantly shuddered. He retracted, feeling like he should slap himself. Irvan quietly scooted away from him, afraid he would be affected by the guy.

Scolding came from the cave.

"Are you all dead? Get up, all of you get up. You don’t even know that people are watching."

The voice was sweet, like a little girl’s, but also with the beauty of a mature woman. Skinorse listened to it and exhaled deeply. "Ah, I’m probably done for, but it’s worth it to die in the hands of such a beauty."

Irvan couldn’t take it anymore. "You bastard," he muttered. "Can’t you be serious?" He didn’t want to die yet.

In the cave, the three bandits were as submissive as rabbits. They hung their heads and didn’t reply.

"Alright, get out. Go to Full Moon City and tell the king that plan A failed. Tell them to start plan B."

"Yes, yes, Master, understood." The three scurried away and disappeared deep into the woods.

The next moment, the female Magician pointed her wand towards where Eliard’s group was hiding. The boulder they were leaning against popped and disappeared into a plume of smoke.

The three were revealed; they were completely helpless. This spell shocked all of them.

Red and green flashed on the woman, and she instantly shot forward 300 feet. Sixty feet away from the three, she looked at them and said in her laughing voice, "Oh, Ferde’s Eliard. I really caught a big fish this time."

Eliard gulped. He regretted his lack of power now. He couldn’t say anything useful, so he just kept quiet.

The woman looked to Skinorse. "I heard what you said. Thank you for your compliments. As an adventurer, you’ve had some great accomplishments."

Skinorse’s lips curled up by habit into a smile that he thought was the most attractive. "I have a request before dying."

"What is it?"

"Let me see your face. Then I won’t have any regrets," Skinorse said.

The woman burst into laughter. Her laugh was like wind chimes and was definitely ear candy. After laughing, she shook his head. "I’m sorry, but I must refuse."

Then she looked to Irvan. "A Level-7 archer. You’re not bad either, but sadly, you three still aren’t strong enough..."

As she spoke, her wand twitched. Eliard gravitated towards her and quickly reached her side. She grabbed him like grabbing a chicken. Eliard couldn’t fight back or even speak.

The female Magician looked at the other two and laughed. "Don’t worry. You two won’t die because I don’t like useless murder. I’ll keep you two alive to send Link a message. Tell him that if he wants to save Eliard, go to Grizzly Hills alone. Remember, he has to be alone. He can’t have any helpers at all."

Hearing this, Skinorse let out a breath. "Don’t worry, I’ll tell him."

"I believe. But even though I won’t kill you, I will still punish your impoliteness. You like women, don’t you? I’ll change your interests now."

With that, fragmented silver light shot out from her wand. It separated halfway through, one beam shooting at Skinorse, the other at Irvan.

The light didn’t look too fast, but they couldn’t defend themselves at all. They were hit simultaneously.

"Alright, you two go have fun."

She grabbed Eliard’s arm. "Let’s go. Don’t worry, I won’t let you die so easily."

After speaking, she stepped back and somehow teleported thousands of feet away. She paused, turned, and then disappeared into the woods.

Soon after they left, someone appeared in the woods. It was Link. Seeing Skinorse and Irvan, his brows furrowed.

Dazed and nude, they rolled around on the ground, moaning in each other’s arms. It was not a delightful scene.